Recent content by AtomRamjet

Yes it would if the nozzle wasn't variable in geometry. The purpose of varying the nozzle geometry is to increase the throat area so that the nozzle can accept the amount of airflow that you're feeding it after correcting for the massive increase in stagnation temperature. You may need a...

It becomes a pain to integrate avionics, fuel, and other essentials into the aircraft when a good portion of that internal volume exists so that air can flow through it. Not only that but skin friction drag would increase because there's more wetted area for boundary layers to form on.

Its performance would also suffer greatly. More weight equals more lift needed to sustain flight. More lift means more induced drag. More induced drag translates to more thrust required. More thrust means higher fuel burn rates which yield reduced range and endurance. What's worse is that a...

As SteamKing said, engines are very heavy and are a major influence on the placement of the CG (center of gravity) of an aircraft. Odd CG placement can and will severely affect the static stability of an aircraft.

Yes but the pressure even further aft of the shock will be of much higher static pressure thanks to simple subsonic gas dynamics. Combustion needs to occur under as high of static pressure as possible to improve fuel-to-air mixing rates, combustion rates, combustion efficiencies, etc. The...

One reason why ramjets operate so reliably at high speed is because of the fact that at supersonic speeds the free-stream stagnation pressure is large enough with respect to the static or "back" pressure to the point where the nozzle is capable of choking and expanding the exhaust flow to a...