Propulsion within the lightcraft concept is produced via laser induced detonation of an incoming hypersonic air stream. This process requires suitable engine configurations that offer good performance over all flight speeds and angles of attack to ensure the required thrust is maintained. Stream traced hypersonic inlets have demonstrated the required performance in conventional hydrocarbon fuelled scramjet engines, and has been applied to the laser powered lightcraft vehicle. This paper will outline the current methodology employed in the inlet design, with a particular focus on the performance of the lightcraft inlet at angles of attack. Fully three‐dimensional turbulent computational fluid dynamics simulations have been performed on a variety of inlet configurations. The performance of the lightcraft inlets have been evaluated at differing angles of attack. An idealized laser detonation simulation has also been performed to validate that the lightcraft inlet does not unstart during the laser powered propulsion cycle.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Hypersonic Inlet for a Laser Powered Propulsion System


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    BEAMED ENERGY PROPULSION: Seventh International Symposium ; 2011 ; Ludwigsburg, (Germany)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 1402 , 1 ; 145-157


    Publication date :

    2011-11-10


    Size :

    13 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Hypersonic inlet for a laser powered propulsion system

    Harrland, A. / Doolan, C. / Wheatley, V. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2011


    Experimental investigation of an axisymmetric hypersonic scramjet inlet for laser propulsion

    Jones, R. A. / Myrabo, L. N. / Nagamatsu, H. T. et al. | NTRS | 1992


    Experimental investigation of an axisymmetric hypersonic scramjet inlet for laser propulsion

    JONES, R. A. / MYRABO, L. N. / NAGAMATSU, H. T. et al. | AIAA | 1992



    Laser-powered propulsion system

    BUDICA ROBERT J / HERZBERG JAMES S / CHANDLER FRANK O | European Patent Office | 2015

    Free access