Project description
Modelling and experimental tests to optimise heat exchanger performance in aircraft
Heat exchangers have a fundamental role in aviation engineering. Continued efforts are made to achieve even greater compactness, less weight and higher performances. Current designs of multiphase heat exchanger headers – where the liquid enters and leaves the tubes – are based on empirical approaches. What is more, the heat exchanger's operation relies on the use of refrigerant fluids with high global warming potential. The EU-funded PANTTHER project aims to optimise the performance of multiphase heat exchangers with low GWP fluids, using a 3D CFD porous media model that takes phase change phenomena and fin structures into account. Topological optimisation and adjoint methods will be assessed, while two experimental facilities with innovative measurement techniques will allow an optimum validation.
Objective
exPerimental And Numerical mulTiscale mulTiphasic Heat ExchangeR
Heat exchangers have a fundamental role in aviation engineering. Heat echanger development is ever in progress, to reduce the heat exchanger volume and to enhance the performances. Although the F-gas II regulation does not yet apply to the aeronautical field, actions are being taken by the entire industry to reduce the environmental footprint of air traffic and investigate the use of low GWP refrigerants. Currently, multiphasic heat exchanger headers have mainly been designed and optimized with an empirical approach and an experimental validation. And the multiphasic heat exchanger core is up-to-now designed with experimental-based correlations, all obtained with the high GWP fluids.
PANTHER project totally fits in the breakthrough requirements, taking advantage of the new optimization strategy of headers coupled with innovative CFD models of the heat exchanger core. The greatest strength of the PANTHER project is close collaboration of the CFD model development together with the experimental facilities for an optimum validation.
PANTHER project will carry out numerical simulations to optimize multiphasic heat exchanger performances: through a 3D CFD porous media model taking into account phase change phenomena and fin structures. For the optimization, topological optimization and adjoint methods will be assessed.
To validate the developed CFD models, PANTHER will design, construct, and characterize and two experimental facilities;
• The adiabatic experimental set-up will validate the adiabatic multiphasic porous media model
• The multiphasic experimental set-up will validate the multiphasic porous media model with heat and mass transfer model, and validate also the optimization chain methodology. The facility will work with an air mass flow range of 0.01 kg/s to 0 0.5 kg/s, an air temperature range of [-10:60°C], refrigerant flow range up to 80 g/s. The chosen fluid for testing is R1234ze.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
1640 Sint-Genesius-Rode
Belgium