The electrification of propulsion systems in hybrid and electric aircraft increases its cooling demands. The conventional heat exchangers contribute to the overall drag of an aircraft, and alternate cooling techniques are necessary. An earlier study done at Bauhaus- Luftfahrt e.V. explores the potential of using aircraft surface for cooling purposes using semi-empirical relations, and the current work is the outlook of this exploratory study. Heat transfer from the aircraft surfaces can alter its aerodynamic performance. In this work, the effect of this heat transfer from the wing section on its aerodynamic performance is investigated. The problem is approached using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool SU2, to solve the compressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the assumption of a two-dimensional flow field. Particular emphasis is given to validate the turbulence models employed in SU2 for compressible flows. A detailed parameter study is done keeping a regional airliner ATR42’s operating conditions in perspective. A modified NACA45018 airfoil is used, which has similar aerodynamic characteristics to the wing section of ATR42. The results of the uniform heating of the airfoil showed that the skin friction drag decreases with an increase in surface temperature while the pressure drag increases. Hence at lower angles of attack, the total drag of the airfoil decreases while at higher angles of attack the total drag increases with an increase in the temperature difference between the airfoil and free-stream. Moreover, studies of non-uniform heating of the airfoil surface showed that heating the lower surface of the airfoil reduces the drag coefficient and improves the lift coefficient while heating the upper surface showed an increase in drag and decline in the lift coefficients.     «

The electrification of propulsion systems in hybrid and electric aircraft increases its cooling demands. The conventional heat exchangers contribute to the overall drag of an aircraft, and alternate cooling techniques are necessary. An earlier study done at Bauhaus- Luftfahrt e.V. explores the potential of using aircraft surface for cooling purposes using semi-empirical relations, and the current work is the outlook of this exploratory study. Heat transfer from the aircraft surfaces can alter it...     »