Constructal Technology for Thermal Management of Aircraft

Abstract : This project relied on constructal theory to develop novel flow architectures for aircraft thermal management, in particular for the cooling of skins and leading surfaces ofhigh speed aircraft, high-temperature gas turbine blades, etc. The following milestones were reached: 1. The concept of vascular architecture embedded in a wall subjected to intense heating, which showed that tree-shaped channels are more effective than parallel channels oriented across the wall, 2. The concept of bathing a volume with one stream flowing as two trees matched canopy to canopy, which showed that this dendritic architecture is dramatically more effective than parallel channels, 3. The concept of ofcooling a wall with tree-shaped channels that run against the intense heating striking the wall, and 4. The concept of dendritic vascularization of a volume by using one stream. The tree-tree architecture exhibits sharp transitions toward greater complexity as the size of the bathed volume increases. These concepts are essential for future vascular design, and for scaling up to realistic dimensions the results obtained based on small-scale models.