Calculations of hot gas ingestion for a STOVL aircraft model

Hot gas ingestion problems for STOVL (short take-off, vertical landing) aircraft are typically approached with empirical methods and experience. In this study, the hot gas environment around a STOVL aircraft was modeled as multiple jets in crossflow with inlet suction. The flowfield was calculated with a Navier-Stokes, Reynolds-averaged, turbulent, three-dimensional CFD code using a multigrid technique. A simple model of a STOVL aircraft with four choked jets at 1000 K was studied at various heights, head wind speeds, and thrust splay angles in a modest parametric study. Scientific visualization of the computed flowfield shows a pair of vortices in front of the inlet.