The investigation of the various heat management concepts using LH₂ requires the development of a modeling environment coupling the cryogenic hydrogen fuel system with turbofan performance. This paper presents a numerical framework to model hydrogen-fueled gas turbine engines with a dedicated heat-management system, complemented by an introductory analysis of the impact of using LH₂ to precool and intercool in the compression system. The propulsion installations comprise Brayton cycle-based turbofans and first assessments are made on how to use the hydrogen as a heat sink integrated into the compression system. Conceptual tubular compact heat exchanger designs are explored to either precool or intercool the compression system and preheat the fuel to improve the installed performance of the propulsion cycles. The precooler and the intercooler show up to 0.3% improved specific fuel consumption for heat exchanger effectiveness in the range 0.5–0.6, but higher effectiveness designs incur disproportionately higher pressure losses that cancel-out the benefits.

This article explores the novel application of a trained artificial neural network (ANN) in the prediction of vanadium redox flow battery behaviour and compares its performance with that of a two-dimensional numerical model. The aim is to evaluate the capability of two ANNs, one for predicting the cell potential and one for the overpotential under various operating conditions. The two-dimensional model, previously validated with experimental data, was used to generate data to train and test the ANNs. The results show that the first ANN precisely predicts the cell voltage under different states of charge and current density conditions in both the charge and discharge modes. The second ANN, which is responsible for the overpotential calculation, can accurately predict the overpotential across the cell domains, with the lowest confidence near high-gradient areas such as the electrode membrane and domain boundaries. Furthermore, the computational time is substantially reduced, making ANNs a suitable option for the fast understanding and optimisation of VRFBs.

Aerothermal heat transfer measurements in fluid dynamics have a relatively high acceptance of uncertainty due to the intricate nature of the experiments. The large velocity and pressure gradients present in turbomachinery application add further complexity to the measurement procedure. Recent method and manufacturing development has addressed some of the primary sources of uncertainty in these heat transfer measurements. However, new methods have so far not been applied in a holistic approach for heat transfer studies. This gap is bridged in the present study where a cost-effective and highly accurate method for heat transfer measurements is implemented, utilising infrared thermography technique (IRT) for surface temperature measurement. Novel heat transfer results are obtained for the turbine rear sturcture (TRS), at engine representative conditions for three different outlet guide vane (OGV) blade loading and at Reynolds Number of 235000. In addition to that, an extensive description of the implementation and error mitigation is presented.

Hydrogen is being considered as a possible path toward carbon-neutral aviation. There are additional advantages besides its main benefit of CO2-free combustion. One application is to use it for aero engine heat management due to its cryogenic temperature and high heat capacity, including intercooling and exhaust heat recuperation. The focus of this paper is on the design of a compact heat exchanger (HEX) integrated into an intermediate compressor duct (ICD), which could decrease compression work and specific fuel consumption (SFC). This compact heat exchanger features curved fins to promote flow turning and decrease pressure losses compared to more conventional straight fin heat exchangers. Conceptual design and duct shape optimization has been carried out which produced integrated ICD heat exchanger designs with significantly lower air-side total pressure losses compared to their conventional straight fin counterparts, which could improve system level integration and engine performance. A direct outcome of this study is a pressure loss correlation, which can be used in future engine system-level trade studies.