{"id":30115142,"date":"2026-10-29T11:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T10:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=30115142"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T10:57:20","slug":"concorde-air-intake-variable-geometry-shock-waves-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/concorde-air-intake-variable-geometry-shock-waves-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Concorde&rsquo;s Air Intakes: How Shock Waves Slowed Mach 2 Air for the Olympus"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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At Mach 2 cruise, the air reaching the front of each nacelle was travelling at about 1,350 mph. The job of slowing it down, without wasting the energy it carried, fell to one of the cleverest parts of the aircraft: its variable-geometry air intakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Engines:<\/strong> Four Rolls-Royce\/Snecma Olympus 593 Mk 610 afterburning turbojets<\/li><li><strong>Intake type:<\/strong> Rectangular, variable-geometry, with two moving ramps in the top surface<\/li><li><strong>Speed reduction:<\/strong> From about Mach 2 to about Mach 0.5 at the engine face<\/li><li><strong>Pressure ratio:<\/strong> About 7.3:1 at Mach 2 cruise, according to Airways<\/li><li><strong>Thrust from the intake:<\/strong> About 63% of the powerplant&rsquo;s net thrust at Mach 2, according to Heritage Concorde<\/li><li><strong>Control:<\/strong> Digital intake control, one of the earliest digital engine-related control systems<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Shock Waves as Brakes<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A supersonic flow can only be slowed efficiently through shock waves. Pass it through one strong, straight-on (normal) shock and it slows abruptly but loses a lot of total pressure. Pass it instead through a series of weaker, angled (oblique) shocks, then a final weak normal shock, and far more of the pressure is recovered. Recovered pressure is free compression for the engine, and therefore thrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concorde&rsquo;s intakes did this with geometry. Two hinged ramps in the roof of each intake, one forward and one aft, moved up and down to set the angle of the surfaces the air met. The ramp angles positioned a system of shock waves running from the intake lip, so that by the time the air reached the engine it had been slowed to roughly Mach 0.5 and compressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/concorde-intake-udvar-hazy-air-france-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Concorde engine intakes on the Air France Concorde at the Udvar-Hazy Center\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Concorde&rsquo;s rectangular intakes, on the Air France aircraft at the Smithsonian&rsquo;s Udvar-Hazy Center. Photo: Alpacaaviator, CC BY-SA 4.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Doors, Spill and Control<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The intake also had to cope with very different conditions at take-off, in the transonic region and at cruise. An auxiliary inlet vane, part of the spill door assembly, was held open on take-off to let in extra air, and closed by about Mach 0.93. A spill door in the lower surface could dump excess air when the engine needed less than the intake was capturing. Late in development the intake control system was switched from analogue to digital, making it one of the first digital systems of its kind; Airways describes it adjusting the ramps automatically from sensor data.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An Intake That Made the Thrust<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the shocks sat in the right places, the intake contributed most of the propulsive effort at cruise. Heritage Concorde puts it at 63% of the powerplant&rsquo;s net positive thrust at Mach 2, with the engine itself and the variable exhaust nozzle making up the rest. It is the same principle that made the SR-71&rsquo;s spiked inlets so effective, which we explain in <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/sr-71-inlet-spike-explained-shock-waves-mach-3-unstart\/\">SR-71 Inlet Spike Explained<\/a>. Concorde used its afterburners only for take-off and to push through the transonic region; at Mach 2 cruise the intakes and engines ran without reheat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting it wrong was dangerous. If the shock system was expelled from the intake, an engine could surge, and at supersonic speed a sudden asymmetric loss of thrust was a serious event. Heritage Concorde notes that the design was self-starting, so the engines did not lock into surge.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Popular Explainer Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The point usually made, that shock waves are what slow the flow and that the subsonic compressor requirement drives the whole design, is correct. The Olympus 593 was a turbojet rather than a turbofan, a slip the creator of one widely shared video corrected herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: Heritage Concorde, &ldquo;Air Intake System&rdquo;; Airways Magazine, &ldquo;Rolls-Royce Olympus: The Engine Behind Concorde&rdquo;; Grace&rsquo;s Guide to British Industrial History, Rolls-Royce Olympus.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>How did Concorde slow air down for its engines?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Concorde&rsquo;s variable-geometry intakes used two moving ramps to set up a series of shock waves that slowed the incoming air from about Mach 2 to about Mach 0.5 before it reached the Olympus 593 compressors, compressing it in the process.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How much thrust did Concorde&rsquo;s intakes produce?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">At Mach 2 cruise, Concorde&rsquo;s intakes contributed about 63% of the powerplant&rsquo;s net thrust, according to Heritage Concorde, because of the pressure they recovered from the supersonic airflow.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Were Concorde&rsquo;s engines turbofans?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. Concorde&rsquo;s Rolls-Royce\/Snecma Olympus 593 engines were afterburning turbojets. Their reheat was used only for take-off and to accelerate through the transonic region.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do supersonic intakes use shock waves?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jet engine compressors need subsonic air. Slowing supersonic air through several weak, angled shock waves followed by a final weak normal shock recovers much more pressure than a single strong shock, which means more thrust and better efficiency.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What were the doors on Concorde&rsquo;s intakes for?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Concorde&rsquo;s intakes had an auxiliary inlet vane that opened on take-off to admit extra air and closed by about Mach 0.93, and a spill door that could dump excess air when the engine needed less than the intake captured.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How is Concorde&rsquo;s intake similar to the SR-71&rsquo;s?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Both used variable intake geometry to position shock waves and slow supersonic air for their engines, and in both cases the intake produced a large share of the thrust at cruise: about 63% on Concorde at Mach 2 and 54% on the SR-71 at Mach 3.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Concorde slow air down for its engines?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Concorde\u2019s variable-geometry intakes used two moving ramps to set up a series of shock waves that slowed the incoming air from about Mach 2 to about Mach 0.5 before it reached the Olympus 593 compressors, compressing it in the process.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How much thrust did Concorde\u2019s intakes produce?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"At Mach 2 cruise, Concorde\u2019s intakes contributed about 63% of the powerplant\u2019s net thrust, according to Heritage Concorde, because of the pressure they recovered from the supersonic airflow.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Were Concorde\u2019s engines turbofans?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. Concorde\u2019s Rolls-Royce\/Snecma Olympus 593 engines were afterburning turbojets. Their reheat was used only for take-off and to accelerate through the transonic region.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why do supersonic intakes use shock waves?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Jet engine compressors need subsonic air. Slowing supersonic air through several weak, angled shock waves followed by a final weak normal shock recovers much more pressure than a single strong shock, which means more thrust and better efficiency.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What were the doors on Concorde\u2019s intakes for?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Concorde\u2019s intakes had an auxiliary inlet vane that opened on take-off to admit extra air and closed by about Mach 0.93, and a spill door that could dump excess air when the engine needed less than the intake captured.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How is Concorde\u2019s intake similar to the SR-71\u2019s?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Both used variable intake geometry to position shock waves and slow supersonic air for their engines, and in both cases the intake produced a large share of the thrust at cruise: about 63% on Concorde at Mach 2 and 54% on the SR-71 at Mach 3.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/sr-71-inlet-spike-explained-shock-waves-mach-3-unstart\/\">SR-71 Inlet Spike Explained: How the Blackbird Tamed Shock Waves at Mach 3<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/concorde-go-around-heathrow-runway-occupied-explained\/\">Concorde Go-Around at Heathrow: Why Even Concorde Had to Climb Away<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fadec-full-authority-digital-engine-control-explained\/\">FADEC Explained: The Computer That Really Runs a Jet Engine<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Mach 2, air arrives at Concorde&rsquo;s engines far too fast for a compressor to swallow. Two moving ramps and a set of doors in each intake used shock waves to slow it to about Mach 0.5, and at cruise the intakes produced more of the thrust than the engines themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":30114650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30115142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Concorde Air Intakes Explained: Ramps, Shocks and Mach 2 | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Concorde\u2019s variable-geometry intakes slowed Mach 2 air to about Mach 0.5 with a train of shock waves, compressing it so well that they produced most of the cruise thrust.\" \/>\n<meta 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