Clive/ Brian,
This is probably too-simplistic a viewpoint to have any merit for such a complex subject, but have to ask.
A lot of interest is always shown in the thrust contribution from the intake at high speeds. For a given installation it goes up with speed, eg for the SR-71 at M2 13%, at M3 54%.
If we now look at Concorde at M2 it's even higher at 63% than the SR-71 at M3.
Both installations were state-of-the-art for their respective design points.
Whilst I understand the actual numbers defining all the flows/thrusts, etc were very different I'm clinging to the idea that a comparison of different installations is perhaps valid using these percentages as they are ratios (non-dimensional).
Question. Is there some fundamental (simple?) reason why Concorde's intake thrust contribution is somewhat higher at a significantly lower speed?
Thanks.