Conceptual Design and Dynamic Simulation of Thermal Management for Fighter Aircraft Fuel System

Abstract

Thermal management issue is one of the significant challenges in advanced aircraft. It is a pivotal research that utilizing thousands of kilograms of fuel as a heat sink for the environmental control system (ECS), power generators, engine lubrication system, and so on. According to the design requirements of advanced fighter aircraft, the aircraft fuel system was analyzed and designed conceptually. The fuel system contains two symmetrical subsystems, and each part consists of one engine combustor, six fuel jet pumps, four fuel tanks, and two boost pumps. Provided main components parameters, one-dimensional thermal fluid simulation software FLOWMASTER was used to construct the whole aircraft fuel system model, by which the fuel system was simulated in both subsonic (design state) and supersonic (check status) flight conditions. To avoid excessive offset of the center of gravity, which would affect the aircraft stability and flexibility, the sequence of the fuel transported was set in advance. The result of the simulation indicates the whole fuel system can statisfy the design requirements in both the design state and check status. By numerical simulation, the layout of system components, dynamic distribution of flow rate, pressure, together with temperature in the fuel system were derived. Moreover, fuel cooling capacity and fuel recirculation were carried out under various fuel consumptions.