Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36) thread

[EmoBirb]

I would have put 2 dorsal air intakes either side of the canopy going straight to the outside engines and have a single ventral intake rather like the J-10C.

That would have probably made the airframe quite a bit larger, as such intakes need to be a certain size and shape to do their job effectively.

We also shouldn't forget that there are still two large intakes on the underside.

Either way, I'm just as confident that the people at CAC know what they're doing, as I am with any aerospace company. Although Boeing might be kind of an exception here.

 

[Jason_]

You know what, I keep staring at the dorsal air intake and I just don't get it. Won't the airflow past the cockpit massively disrupt the air going into it? I mean it looks like a lot of air will just skim right off the canopy and above the air intake even in normal level flight. I would have put 2 dorsal air intakes either side of the canopy going straight to the outside engines and have a single ventral intake rather like the J-10C.

People with wind tunnels think not.

 

[EmoBirb]

The CG rendering has a much nicer side profile than the actual. I think the bubble like canopy gives it a more balance look in the CG image.

I'll be quite honest, if we are already discussing aesthetics here there is no way around it: the J-36 looks like an absolute hog.

Incredible wide and flat, possible side-by-side seating which means a wide canopy and the top intake couldn't have been any less flattering. Luckily function goes over form in this kind of matter.

Because it looks like this:

 

[kurutoga]

You know what, I keep staring at the dorsal air intake and I just don't get it. Won't the airflow past the cockpit massively disrupt the air going into it? I mean it looks like a lot of air will just skim right off the canopy and above the air intake even in normal level flight. I would have put 2 dorsal air intakes either side of the canopy going straight to the outside engines and have a single ventral intake rather like the J-10C.

Actually it is the opposite. The curves will pull the air into the intake because the region right behind the cockpit will have low pressure thus very fast airflow.

You are maybe thinking about spraying the front of the airplane with a water hose? thus the cockpit blocks some of the sprayed water? No, you need to imagine the entire plane is submerged in water in a very fast current. The water body as a whole works in certain ways that can be counter intuitive.

 

[broadsword]

You know what, I keep staring at the dorsal air intake and I just don't get it. Won't the airflow past the cockpit massively disrupt the air going into it? I mean it looks like a lot of air will just skim right off the canopy and above the air intake even in normal level flight. I would have put 2 dorsal air intakes either side of the canopy going straight to the outside engines and have a single ventral intake rather like the J-10C.

The venturi effect keeps the airflow on the top.

 

[MonkeyEatingEagle]

It looks really good from the front, the rear and the top.

But my God, is it ugly from the sides.

Its side profile looks like a flying turtle cuz of the hunch and all. I personally call it the J-36 Thundering Turtle.

 

[Aniah]

Man, reading the last 100 pages makes me believe I'm the only one who actually likes the design. I refuse to believe it's my taste in birds that's the problem.

 

[lcloo]

Man, reading the last 100 pages makes me believe I'm the only one who actually likes the design. I refuse to believe it's my taste in birds that's the problem.

Agree. The side profile looks like from out of this world sci-fi movie, better than Star war movie sets, and J36 is real aircraft.

Shadow vessels from Babylon Five TV series are real ugly and evil looking, but I like it.

 

[00CuriousObserver]

Man, reading the last 100 pages makes me believe I'm the only one who actually likes the design. I refuse to believe it's my taste in birds that's the problem.

I went from "damn Orca was right, this is ugly" to "ehh the triangle is kinda good looking, I wanna see high quality pics"

How good it looks is pretty dependent on the angle you view it from tbh.

 

[Schwerter_]

You know what, I keep staring at the dorsal air intake and I just don't get it. Won't the airflow past the cockpit massively disrupt the air going into it? I mean it looks like a lot of air will just skim right off the canopy and above the air intake even in normal level flight. I would have put 2 dorsal air intakes either side of the canopy going straight to the outside engines and have a single ventral intake rather like the J-10C.

That’s why you don’t eyeball fluid dynamics. Flows often do stuff that don’t make sense at first glance or can be made to do stuff that don’t make sense at first glance.

I’d wager that if CAC designed it like this it meant that it worked well enough for its intended flight envelope (whatever that might be) in CFD and in wind tunnels at least.

having said that yeah the cockpit absolutely will mess with the flow to some degree depending on things like Reynolds number, Mach number, angle of attack, etc. it’s just that I think they think it’s controllable and/or acceptable