Experimental and numerical methodology for the aero-thermal analysis of a SACOC heat exchanger

Abstract

[EN] Surface air-cooled oil coolers (SACOC) are being used in the aerospace industry. This device is a passive heat exchanger used to dissipate a large amount of heat from the oil circuit of a turbofan engine to its secondary flow with minimal impact on turbofan efficiency.

Typically, heat exchangers are formed by parallel fins and it is important to evaluate the interaction between the three-dimensional high-speed flow and the heat exchanger. The characterization of these devices is usually performed in custom wind tunnels. In addition, it can be done through numerical simulations that include the solution of the fluid equations in the flow field and a conjugate thermal problem. The benefit of using numerical methods, once validated, is that it allows a complete and computationally affordable analysis of the aerothermal performance of the SACOC. This work includes a comparison between numerical and experimental results in terms of pressures and temperatures to achieve a complete characterization, thus demonstrating the capability of the numerical model to obtain accurate results and allowing a better understanding of the physical phenomenon.