Abstract: a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)-controlled inlet is adopted in order to improve the scramjet inlet performance in off-design conditions. The two-dimensional MHD controlled inlet in the accelerator mode is numerically simulated, and the influence of some key parameters on the performance of the inlet is analyzed. The results show that the magnitude and direction of magnetic induction and the position of the MHD interaction region have important influence on the performance of the inlet. The analysis shows that the increase of mass capture and pressure is mainly due to the MHD interaction near and up the cowl lip region. A considerable improvement of the inlet air mass capture and pressure rise is obtained while the loss of total pressure is limited to a reasonable extent. It can be concluded that the accelerator mode MHD-controlled inlet can improve the inlet performance when the flight Mach number is lower than the design value.

Key words: scramjet, magnetohydrodynamics, MHD-controlled inlet, MHD accelerator