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  • Research
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  • Clusters of Excellence at TU Braunschweig
  • SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation
  • Research
  • ICA B "Flight Physics and Vehicle Systems"
Logo Sustainable and Energy Efficient Aviation of TU Braunschweig
B4.1- Collaborative Multidisciplinary Structural Design and Thermal Management for Electric Aircraft
  • ICA B "Flight Physics and Vehicle Systems"
    • B5.2 - Application of physics-based finite-element tools in stiffness tailored structures for cryogenic hydrogen storage for improved mechanical and thermo-mechanical response
    • B4.2 - Consistent Multilevel Model Coupling and Knowledge Representation in Multidisciplinary Analysis and Design
    • B4.1- Collaborative Multidisciplinary Structural Design and Thermal Management for Electric Aircraft
    • B3.5 - Production technologies for hybrid suction designs - Bonding of micro-perforated sheets for hybrid laminar flow control suction panels
    • B3.2 - Advancing the additive xHLFC suction panel concept towards wind-tunnel readiness
    • B3.1 - Protective, multifunctional suction shells for hybrid laminar flow control: Design, integration, simulation and testing
    • B2.5 - EverScale - Enhancement and verification of load alleviation technologies by subscale flight testing
    • B2.4- Hybrid load alleviation by fluidic/reversed control and nonlinear structures
    • B2.3 - ARGO2 - Integrated design of control methods for stability of elastic aircraft
    • B1.9 - Validation of turbulent boundary layer-induced sound transmission through a fuselage section
    • B1.8 - Wind-tunnel experiments of advanced design of swept-wing with suction surfaces
    • B1.7 - Extension of Correlation-based Transition Transport Models for Laminar Aircraft Design
    • B1.6 - Effective Design Methods and Design Exploration for Laminar Wing and Fuselage
    • B1.5 - Sensitivities of Laminar Suction Boundary Layers for Large Reynolds Numbers
    • B1.3- Physics of broadband noise of sound sources from installed propulsors
    • JRG-B1 - Physics of Laminar Wing and Fuselage
    • JRG-B2 - Flow Physics of Load Reduction
    • B1.1 - Propeller and wing aerodynamics of distributed propulsion
    • B1.2 - Aerodynamic analysis of partly embedded boundary layer ingesting propulsors
    • B1.3 - Fast non empiric prediction of propulsion installation related noise
    • B1.4 - Transition Prediction and Design of Hybrid Laminar Flow Control on Blended Wing Bodies Based on 3D Parabolized Stability Equations
    • B2.1 - Load reduction potential of nonlinear stiffness and damping technologies
    • B2.2 - Structural technologies enabling load alleviation
    • B2.3 - Active load Reduction for enabling a 1-G wing using fOrward-looking and distributed sensors (ARGO)
    • B2.4 - Morphing structures for the 1g-wing
    • B3.1 - Global and Local Design Methodology for Laminar Flow Control
    • B3.2 - Process simulation and multiscale manufacturing of suction panels for laminar flow control
    • B3.3 - Thin Plies in Application for Next Generation Aircraft (TANGA)
    • B3.4 - New methods for failure and fatigue analysis of suction panels for laminar flow control
    • B5.1 - ADEMAO: Aircraft Design Engine based on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization
    • JRG-B5 - Long-Range Aircraft Configurations and Technology Analyses
    • JRP - Permeation assessment for cryogenic applications by means of Fiber Bragg Grating sensors
    • ⯇ back to research

B4.1- Collaborative Multidisciplinary Structural Design and Thermal Management for Electric Aircraft

Project B4.1 addresses, in close collaboration with B4.2, the technological challenge of dissipating the waste heat from a fuel cell system via the aerodynamic surfaces, which is one of the key aspects to develop future sustainable aircraft. This will be made representative for unconventional aircraft configurations such as the Blended Wing Body (BWB) to identify potential solutions and to study the feasibility of such systems.

In particular B4.1 is a collaborative project were the TU Braunschweig, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the TU Delft take part and bring in their expertise in structural design and lightweight structures, aircraft aerodynamics, heat transfer and propulsion systems, respectively. Since the thermal fluid-structure-interaction (TFSI) is a multi-disciplinary coupled problem, it is studied with different specific solvers that need to be coupled to each other.

High-fidelity Modelling and Design Space Exploration

Simplified 3D-Model

For the targeted application, the unknown sensitivities resulting from the coupling of the waste heat transport from the fuel cell to the aerodynamic surface via a cooling fluid and heat conduction through the surface structure, the heat transfer to the aerodynamic flow around the vehicle surface as well as its thermal-mechanical behaviour including structural integrity and adaptivity are considered. In addition to the precise modelling of the individual disciplines involved and their consistent three-field-coupling, an integral consideration of the overall system is carried out using advanced multi-fidelity approaches. This enables the efficient design and optimization focusing on the interaction of the surface with the outer flow field and the weight saving design of the internal structure with integrated cooling channels.

With the collaborative, multi-disciplinary analysis capability involving the individual disciplines, the design space is characterised by means of optimization algorithms, while the link between the solvers exploits the interactions between the disciplines to find a trade-off.

In a first attempt the complex multi-disciplinary problem is approached with a simplified 3D-Model depicting the individual regions of the external flow, internal channel flow and the domain connecting structure in between, considering the applying physics. Preparatory for the high-fidelity coupled simulation the simplified model is used to develop coupling mechanisms and study occurring phenomena. For that, various individual solvers as DLR’s TAU, Abaqus and OpenFOAM are coupled using the design framework developed by B4.2. Later on, the developed model will be used to execute high-fidelity simulations on the detailed BWB-Aircraft geometry.

Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization Approaches

Using the results of the high-fidelity model, surrogate models can be derived for individual disciplines to reduce computing time in following studies. With parameter and sensitivity studies varying initial conditions such as cooling fluid and structural material properties, flight maneuvers and hence varying required propulsion power, a parameter app will be developed. This will contribute to the knowledge representation graphs that can be used to develop semantic models and concepts for the overall thermal management system (TMS). Furthermore, the obtained knowledge is used to optimize certain parameters to account for e.g., the flow separation on the aircraft’s skin or the cooling flow resistance inside the channels.

Application of Design Framework for Use Cases

Further studies using the design framework obtained by B4.2 aim for optimization of the thermal management system such as channel geometries, the channel layout in the aircraft’s skin and structural integrity regarding the aerodynamic and thermal loads in unusual and critic ambient conditions. The channel layout can be further optimized regarding strategic heating in particular aircraft skin regions such as fully-turbulent flow regions to decrease the overall aircraft drag.

Finally, the results of the new design methods and the integration framework are summarized and evaluated.

Project Details

Scientific Staff

Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures, Technische Universität Braunschweig

Dr.-Ing. Matthias Haupt (PI)

Lasse Kreuzeberg, M.Sc.

Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Görtz (PI)

Achyuth Attravanam, M.Sc.

Department of Flight Performance and Propulsion, TU Delft

Dr.ir. Chiara Falsetti (PI)

Dr.ir. Carlo de Servi

Behnam Parizad Benam, M.Sc.

Project Management

Dr.-Ing. Matthias Haupt
Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures, TU Braunschweig
m.haupt(at)tu-braunschweig.de

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Görtz
Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
stefan.goertz(at)dlr.de

Dr.ir. Chiara Falsetti
Department of Flight Performance and Propulsion, TU Delft
c.falsetti(at)tudelft.nl

Dr.ir. Carlo de Servi
Department of Flight Performance and Propulsion, TU Delft
c.m.deservi(at)tudelft.nl

Institutions

Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Straße 35, 38108 Braunschweig

 

Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108 Braunschweig

 

Department of Flow Physics and Technology, TU Delft, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft

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Cluster of Excellence SE²A –
Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Hermann-Blenk-Str. 42
38108 Braunschweig

se2a(at)tu-braunschweig.de
+49 531 391 66661

 

 

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