On the centered-compression waves/cowl shock interaction from opposite-family in hypersonic inlet with inward deflection cowl: An inviscid perspective

The inviscid interaction mechanisms between centered-compression waves and the opposite-family cowl shock in hypersonic inlets with inward-deflecting cowls are investigated using the method of characteristics (MOC) and theoretical analysis. Three distinct flow regions, i.e., centered-compression waves/cowl shock interaction zone, cowl shock/reflected waves interaction region, and the non-interaction region, can be categorized based on interaction configurations and corresponding post-shock parameter distributions, yielding three characteristic patterns of the pressure distribution: slight variation along the shock direction in the centered-compression waves/cowl shock interaction zone, near-linear ascending in the cowl shock/reflected waves interaction region, and minimal variation in the non-interacting region. Remarkably, the cowl shock shape and post-interaction parameter distributions behave independently with the scaling factor; cowl shock shape and flowfield parameters demonstrate complete spatial overlap across varying configurations upon the normalization of coordinates by the characteristic length dC in polar systems. A derivation establishes theoretical solutions for predicting the cowl shock shape under various wave interaction configurations. Comparative validation demonstrates excellent agreement between the theoretical and MOC results, with all discrepancies remaining within 1%. This work establishes a theoretical inviscid model for analyzing shock/compression wave interactions in hypersonic inlets, offering critical insights for aerodynamic design optimization.