To explore the feasibility of testing the accelerating self-start ability of hypersonic inlets in a blow-down wind tunnel

a self-starting test method based on continuous varying attack angle of a shielding plate fixed on the upstream hypersonic inlets was developed. In the test

the hypersonic inlet

together with a shielding plate

rotated from the limiting positive attack angle to the limiting negative attack angle. The shielding plate decelerated the freestream by shock wave

or accelerated the freestream by expansion waves. Hence

the continuous accelerating freestream downstream the shielding plate can be obtained for the inlet. The test method was verified with numerical simulations. Results show that: the deviation of the starting Mach number in the rotating process of the hypersonic inlet with a shielding plate at an angular velocity of 2(°)/s and the inlet self-starting Mach number is within 1%

indicating that the method based on the continuous varying attck angle of a hypersonic inlet with a shielding plate can be used to test the self-starting ability of hypersonic inlets in a blow-down wind tunnel.