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The hypersonic inward turning inlet has characteristics of high mass capture capability and compression capability, meanwhile it has direct influences on the design of the flight vehicle control ability and stability, therefore the design of forebody/inlet integration is of critical importance. In the paper, axi-symmetrical basic flow fields with controlled pressure distribution used for the designing of hypersonic inward turning inlet was established using the rotational method of characteristics. In combination of the streamline tracing technique, five forebodies/inward turning inlets were designed. The influences of different radial and circumferential positions on the inlet and forebody performances in longitudinal and course were studied numerically. The results show that the forebodies/inlets generate large aerodynamic forces and moments which influence both the flight vehicle control ability and stability. With the capture line being off from the center body, the performances of the flight vehicle static instability both longitudinal and lateral are improved; when the capture line changes in the circumferential direction, the degree of longitudinal static stability remains nearly unchanged; when the capture line is symmetrical about the longitudinal plane, mass flow ratio increases significantly compared to those with asymmetrical capture lines, but the penalty is the deterioration of the performance of course static stability. These conclusions presented in this paper have valuable contributions to the design of flight vehicles with high performance of handling and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air-breathing hypersonic flight vehicles are highly airframe/propulsion integrated, especially the outer and inner flows of the flight vehicles are very complicated and interact strongly with each other, considerable difficulties should be solved rationally in ground testing. Therefore, it is of great necessity to conduct researches on the related experimental methodology. This paper presents a brief analysis of main aerodynamic issues concerned with air-breathing hypersonic flight vehicles as well as associated experimental testing requirements, in which three typical types of experimental testing are focused on, they are performance testing of airframe/propulsion integrated vehicles, experiment of boundary layer transition with trips, and arc-heated facility testing of sharp leading edges. Besides, an overview of wind tunnel research methodologies both in China and abroad is included. This paper also provides critical similarity parameters that need to be ensured for the three types of experiments mentioned above, followed by an influence analysis of those key parameters that are difficult to achieve in ground testing. Based on the testing capability of the current test facilities, three typical wind tunnel experimental methods have been put forward, along with an effective method of acquiring accurate aerodynamic performance of the airframe/propulsion integrated vehicles in particular. The research materials presented should provide a useful guideline on the aerothermal and aerodynamic experimental research on hypersonic flight vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]