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This study investigates the viability of Skin Heat Exchangers (SHXs) as an effective thermal management solution for hybrid-electric aircraft, with a focus on their aerodynamic and heat transfer performance. Using two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, the work evaluates various SHX configurations across different flight phases of a conceptual regional hybrid-electric aircraft (FutPrInt50), analysing the effects of surface heating on lift, drag, and convective heat transfer. A Gaussian Process Regression surrogate model is developed to predict SHX performance under varying atmospheric and operational conditions. At cruise, results reveal that heating the lower surface of the aerofoil enhances both aerodynamic efficiency and heat transfer capacity compared to an all-heated configuration by 10.9% and 9.9%, respectively, while a heated upper patch had the best average heat transfer potential by 7%, it suffered significantly in aerodynamic performance by -14.2%, compared to the next best configuration. However, SHX performance proved to be highly sensitive, with diminished cooling capacity of up to 54.3% during high-demand phases such as take-off and climb compared to cruise. The findings underscore SHXs as a promising, though insufficient stand-alone, thermal solution for hybrid-electric propulsion systems, indicating the need for complementary technologies in future aircraft designs. • Heating lower surface improves aerodynamic and heat transfer performance in cruise. • Heating upper surfaces improves heat transfer but hinders aerodynamic efficiency. • Skin heat exchangers can contribute to heat rejection in hybrid-electric aircraft.
Abreu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.