Premixed hydrogen combustion in aero-engines introduces a persistent risk of flashback and therefore poses a major challenge to safe and reliable engine operation. From a control perspective, this study aims to develop a hydrogen-fueled aero-engine model with an integrated flashback criterion, and to employ this model for the design of a flashback-prevention control strategy. First, using a representative high-bypass-ratio turbofan as the reference configuration, a component-level Hydrogen-fueled turbofan Engine Model (HEM) is established, and a Control-oriented Flashback Criterion (CFC) is formulated and embedded within this model. The resulting integrated model (HEM-CFC) captures the thermodynamic response of hydrogen-fueled engine while predicting flashback onset during engine operation. Simulations reveal high-altitude cruise at high thrust and rapid deceleration as regimes of elevated flashback risk. Subsequently, on the basis of this model, a flashback limit line is derived by using the fuel ratio as an iteration variable, and this limit line is embedded within a min-max control framework. Results show that this strategy effectively prevents flashback across transients, demonstrating a tractable route for incorporating physical safety limits into hydrogen aero-engine control. The proposed strategy effectively prevents flashback, thereby enhancing safety and facilitating the deployment of hydrogen-fueled turbofans in future low-carbon aviation.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.