F-16 DSI inlet testbed

flateric

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Imagine this intake combined with the cranked delta wing of the F-16XL, with the avionics/engines of the latest Block 60 UAE Viper!

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F-16XL1/Small/EC97-44354-3.jpg
 
Would be nice to see a production F-16 with that inlet. Supposedly it performed better than the standard inlet.
 
QuadroFX said:
Kryptid said:
Would be nice to see a production F-16 with that inlet. Supposedly it performed better than the standard inlet.
Eeehh, no. DSI intake is optimized for M up to 1.6.

How could you have possibly missed the extended arguement on Key?

"The overall inlet design, called a diverterless supersonic inlet or DSI, moved from concept to reality when it was installed and flown on a Block 30 F-16 in a highly successful demonstration program.

The new inlet showed slightly better subsonic specific excess power than a production inlet and that verified the overall system benefits of eliminating the diverter. Test pilots remarked that military power settings and thrust characteristics were very similar to standard production F-16 aircraft with the same General Electric F110-GE-129 engine. Considering the overall goal of the flight test program was to demonstrate the viability of this advanced inlet technology, the results were excellent.

The DSI bump functions as a compression surface and creates a pressure distribution that prevents the majority of the boundary layer air from entering the inlet at speeds up to Mach 2. In essence, the DSI does away with complex and heavy mechanical systems.

The DSI concept was introduced into the JAST/JSF program as a trade study item in mid-1994. It was compared with a traditional "caret" style inlet. The trade studies involved additional CFD, testing, and weight and cost analyses. The new inlet earned its way into the JSF design after proving to be thirty percent lighter and showing lower production and maintenance costs over traditional inlets while still meeting all performance requirements."
 
I remember posting some links about DSI studies including a chinese paper on transonic speeds...
 
That's fascinating, thanks for the find.
 
another present from Lockheed's CodeOne Magazine staff

Sideview of an F-16 modified with diverterless supersonic inlet, or DSI, developed for the Joint Strike Fighter -- now the F-35 Lightning II -- program. At high aircraft speeds through supersonic, the bump in the inlet works with the forward-swept inlet cowl to redirect unwanted boundary layer airflow away from the inlet, essentially doing the job of heavier, more complex, and more costly diverters used by current fighters. The flight test program consisted of twelve flights flown in nine days in December 1996.
 

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More pics:
 

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There is too much detail for that to be the RCS "model". I believe that is the actual airframe.

Adam
 
quellish said:
mr_london_247 said:

It's previous location was at:
32.786889°
-97.447521°

Not sure how it got to Palmdale. It does appear that is the actual aircraft.
I suspect that it flew there when we finished testing it. I do believe that is a Lockheed owned F-16, not a US Gov't owned one.
 

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