Energy 280 (2023) 128161

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Thermodynamic analysis of a novel precooled supersonic turbine engine

based on aircraft/engine integrated optimal design
Changpeng Cai, Haoying Chen, Juan Fang, Qiangang Zheng, Cheng Chen, Haibo Zhang *
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, College of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Aerospace Power System, Nanjing,
210016, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Ruzhu Wang Aircraft and precooled engine efficient matching work is a key issue in the thermal cycle design of precooled
engines, to solve this problem, an aircraft/precooled turbine engine integrated design method considering the
Keywords: fuel precooling impact mechanism is newly proposed. The impact of n-decane, ammonia, and hydrogen fuel
Thermodynamic analysis precooling on aircraft design parameters and engine thrust requirements is revealed. Furthermore, a parameter
Aircraft/precooled turbine engine integrated
optimal design method for fuel precooled engine is carried out to satisfy the multi-objective performance re­
design
quirements of high specific thrust, low fuel consumption, high exergy efficiency, and low weight. The simulation
Multi-objective optimization
Fuel precooled turbine engine results show that the n-decane fuel precooled engine reduces the takeoff weight of the aircraft by 4.23% and the
fuel load by 11.6%, which has a better comprehensive performance than that of ammonia and hydrogen.
Ammonia fuel has the maximum precooling heat sink and performance improvement space. After multi-objective
optimization, it increases the maximum specific thrust by 7.3%, reduces fuel consumption by 2.2%, and improves
the engine exergy efficiency by 2.7%, with only a 1.3% increase in rotating component weight. Ammonia and n-
decane dual fuel precooling can achieve complementary advantages of high combustion heat value and high
precooling heat sink, making it an ideal precooled engine scheme.

turbine engines. Yu et al. [11,12] proposed a thermal cycle analysis

1. Introduction
In recent years, the hot research on hypersonic aircraft [1,2] has
driven the rapid development of matching power technologies, and
various forms of wide speed range power plant solutions for 0-5Ma+
have appeared. For example, the ATREX engine proposed by Tetsuya
Sato et al. [3,4], the SABRE engine and the Scimitar engine [5] proposed
by the British Reaction Engine Company [6], the NUAA-PTRE engine
proposed by Yao et al. [7,8], the use of inlet air precooling technology
and a combination of turbine, rocket, and ramjet engines is the common
feature of the above schemes. Turbine based engines have unparalleled
advantages of high specific impulse at low Mach number [9], which is
the key to improving the economy of wide speed range engines. How­
ever, under high Mach operating conditions, high inlet total temperature
can cause a sharp decrease in the efficiency of rotating compression
components, and inlet air precooling is an effective method to alleviate
this problem [10]. Therefore, inlet air precooled turbine engines are key
power technologies for achieving efficient, low-cost, and reusable wide
speed range flight.
A lot of work has been carried out on the research of precooled
method for rotating components of turbine engines based on fuel pre­
cooling and explored the impact of different types of fuel precooling on
engine performance. Wang et al. [13,14] studied the thermal cycle
characteristics of fuel precooled turbine-rocket engines and found that
the total pressure loss of the precooler is a key factor restricting the
improvement of engine performance. For the purpose of solving the
problem of engine performance degradation caused by excessive fuel
consumption, the optimization method of multi-stage precooling
compression cycle [15] and cascade utilization of cold sources [16] is
further proposed. To further improve the engine performance at a high
Mach number, a new indirect chemical precooling engine scheme
combined with steam Rankine cycle was proposed [17]. Considering the
limited precooling heat sink of conventional hydrocarbon fuels, Pan
et al. [18] proposed a fuel precooling method combining n-decane and
methanol, and Zhang et al. [19] explored a performance evaluation
method for a combined cycle engine using ammonia as the precooling
fuel, Wang et al. [20,21] proposed a performance improvement method
for turbojet engines based on precooling of ammonia and n-decane dual
fuel to solve the problem of ammonia fuel low calorific value, and
studied the influence of fuel cracking rate on engine performance. Jet

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zh_zhhb@126.com (H. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2023.128161
Received 25 April 2023; Received in revised form 4 June 2023; Accepted 16 June 2023
Available online 16 June 2023
0360-5442/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Nomenclature φ Exergetic efficiency

ϕ Fuel equivalence ratio
A Area (m2)
AB Afterburner Subscripts
AF Aft-Fan a air
BP Bypass act actual
CDFS Core driven fan stage chem chemistry
cp Constant pressure specific heat (J/(kg⋅K)) fa Afterburner fuel
Cr Cracking rate of fuel fb Main combustion fuel
C10H22 n-decane fbin Interstage combustion fuel
DFP Davidan Fletcher Powell g gas
i section
Ė: Energy (kW)e Energy (kW)e: Bleed ratio coefficient of cooling
ideal ideal
airflow
in inlet of component
Ėx Exergy (kW)
out outlet of component
F Thrust (N)
phy physics
FF Front Fan
s static
Fsp Specific thrust of engine (N⋅s/kg)
t total
H Altitude (km)
thrust thrust
HC High Compressor
Hs Heat sink (MJ/kg) Superscripts
HT High pressure Turbine CH Chemical
Hu Calorific value of fuel (MJ/kg) F Fuel exergy
H2 hydrogen KN Kinetic exergy
IC Interstage Combustion PH Physical
Isp Specific impulse of engine (s)
J Objective function Engine section number
LT Low pressure Turbine 2 Precooler inlet
m Mass flow rate (kg/s) 21 Precooler outlet
Ma Mach number 22 Front Fan outlet
Masstotal Total weight of rotating components (kg) 24 Aft-Fan outlet
MC Main Combustion 25 CDFS outlet
MT Middle pressure Turbine 13 First bypass inlet
NZ Nozzle 23 Second bypass inlet
NH3 ammonia 33 Third bypass inlet
P Pressure (Pa) 16 First bypass outlet
PC Precooler 26 Second bypass outlet
Q Heat flow (J) 36 Third bypass outlet
Sfc Specific fuel consumption (kg/(s⋅N)) 3 H-Compressor outlet
SQP Sequential Quadratic Programming 4 Main Combustion outlet
T Temperature (K) 41 H-Turbine inlet
V Velocity (m/s) 44 H-Turbine outlet
W Power (kW) 45 M-Turbine inlet
WTO Take-off weight (ton) 46 M-Turbine inlet (Interstage Combustion inlet)
48 L-Turbine inlet (Interstage Combustion outlet)
Greek letters 6 L-Turbine outlet
α Bypass ratio 7 Mixer&Afterburner outlet
β Deflation ratio coefficient 8 Nozzle throat
η Efficiency 9 Nozzle outlet
π Pressure/expansion ratio
σ Pressure recovery factor

precooling is another classic method to improve the efficiency of turbine
engines at high Mach numbers. Lv et al. [22,23] proposed a method
based on ammonia jet precooling, which effectively improves the thrust
performance of turbine-ramjet combined engines in the mode conver­
sion range.
Based on the above research inspiration, in our previous study, we
took a three rotor dual working mode turbine engine as the object [24],
and studied the impact of precooling of n-decane and ammonia dual fuel
on its thrust, fuel consumption, and economy [25]. Although we found
that further increasing fuel precooling based on the already designed
component parameters can improve engine performance, due to the
consideration lack of precooling effects in the engine component
parameters design process, the design of rotating compression compo­
nents such as compressors is too conservative. Therefore, this method
cannot fully unleash the potential of fuel precooling for improving en­
gine performance. On the other hand, aircraft and precooled engine
efficient matching work is a key issue in the thermal cycle analysis of
precooled engines. And the performance analysis of fuel precooled en­
gine must be conducted from the perspective of aircraft mission re­
quirements, as their fuel consumption and precooled medium
consumption are completely different from conventional turbine engine.
Ali Dinc et al. [26] studied the thermal cycle characteristics of the
turboprop engine under different flight missions, evaluated the exergy
characteristics and fuel energy utilization laws of engine at different

2
C. Cai et al.
Fig. 1. Aircraft/fuel precooled turbine engine integrated design process.
stages [27,28], and provided us with some inspiration: Fuel precooled
engine should also consider its exergy characteristics in flight mission
analysis. In the studies of references [12],etc., the influence of fuel
precooled engine on the flight mission and design parameters of the
aircraft was evaluated using the Concorde and Boeing 777 aircraft as
aircraft platforms respectively. However, the performance analysis in
their study is based on the premise of fuel and air exactly burning
completely (fuel equivalence ratio φ = 1), while in the actual engine
design process, it is necessary to determine the design value of the
combustion outlet temperature based on the temperature resistance
limit of the turbine material, and further calculate the design point
fuel/air ratio. Moreover, the design state fuel/air ratio is often in a lean
fuel combustion state(φ < 1). Therefore, the above reference simulation
research may reveal the problem of high total temperature at the com­
bustion outlet, which has certain limitations.
With the intention of addressing the above shortcomings, this paper
explores a new direction for thermal cycle analysis of fuel precooled
engine: aircraft/fuel precooled engine integrated optimal design. On the
basis of conventional aircraft engine integrated design, we innovatively
consider the impact mechanism of different fuel precooling. A compre­
hensive design method for aircraft/fuel precooled engine is proposed,
the comprehensive impact of using n-decane, ammonia, and hydrogen
fuel precooled engines on aircraft design parameters and engine per­
formance parameters from the perspective of flight missions is evalu­
ated. And the optimization design method for fuel precooling engine
design parameters is carried out, which takes into account high specific
thrust(Fsp), high engine exergy efficiency(φENG), low fuel consumption
(Sfc), and low structural weight(Masstotal) to meet the multi-objective
performance requirements.
The main contributions of our work are as follows: 1. With the
mission goal of achieving a 6 tons commercial load with a cruising range
of 4000 km at 4.0 Ma, through aircraft constraint analysis and flight
mission analysis, the influence of different fuel precooled engine such as
n-decane, ammonia, and hydrogen fuel on aircraft design parameters
3
Energy 280 (2023) 128161
such as takeoff weight, fuel carrying weight, takeoff thrust, and wing
area is determined; 2. Based on the variable thrust requirements of
different fuel precooled engine obtained from aircraft/fuel precooled
engine integrated design, the impact of different fuel precooling types on
engine performance parameters is evaluated; 3. The design parameters
of fuel precooled engine components have been realized to meet the
requirements of high Fsp, high φENG, low Sfc, and low Masstotal through
multiple objectives optimization.
2. Aircraft/fuel precooled turbine engine integrated design
The integrated design method of aircraft/engine based on flight
mission requirements is a technical means to achieve efficient coordi­
nation and matching between aircraft and engine. The aircraft design
thrust load directly determines the thrust size of the matching engine,
and the performance of engine thrust, fuel consumption, and other
factors affect the mission suitability of the aircraft. There is a clear in­
tegrated relationship between the aircraft and engine design. Especially
for supersonic/hypersonic aircraft power plants, due to their signifi­
cantly higher fuel consumption than conventional engines, and the
current popular hypersonic power often uses pre cooling, hydrogen fuel,
and other methods to improve engine efficiency and thrust at high Mach
numbers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an integrated design
method for aircraft/fuel precooled turbine engines to more reasonably
evaluate the performance of fuel precooled turbine engines. Therefore,
this paper proposes the overall optimal design process of the aircraft/
fuel precooled turbine engine, as illustrated in Fig. 1. By constraint
analysis and mission analysis of the aircraft’s flight phase, relevant
aircraft design parameters are determined. Based on this, the engine
thermodynamic cycle optimization design is carried out, ultimately
obtaining a fuel precooled turbine engine solution that meets the re­
quirements of hypersonic aircraft missions.
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of aircraft force analysis.

W dV
T cos(AOA + φ) − W sin θ − (D + R) = (1)
g0 dt

2.1. Constraint analysis

Constraint analysis is an analytical method that establishes a

connection between aircraft maneuverability requirements and engine
thrust requirements [29]. According to the aircraft/engine integrated
analysis method based on energy conservation, the aircraft is regarded
as a moving particle. According to Newton’s second law, the force
analysis of the aircraft as shown in Fig. 2 is performed. Therefore, during
the aircraft entire flight process, the following relationship exists along Fig. 3. Iterative calculation process for aircraft takeoff weight.
the flight speed direction:where, θ is the trajectory angle between the
flight speed V and the horizontal line, the attack angle AOA is the angle
between the flight direction and the wing chord, φ is the angle between WTO = WP + WE + WF (3)
thrust and wing chord, T is the installation thrust of the engine; D is the
For passenger aircraft, WP refers to the flight crew and their
net resistance of the aircraft when there are no external stores and the
accompanying equipment. Aircraft empty weight (WE) refers to the
body is clean; R is the additional resistance caused by protruding parts
weight of the aircraft when it is not carrying any load (including fuel/
such as landing gear; W is the aircraft weight; g0 represents the local
ammunition/cargo/passengers, etc.). Generally, WE can be estimated as
gravitational acceleration.
part of the WTO, and the estimation formula is as follows [30]:
After a series of assumptions and deductions(the details can refer to
Ref. [29]), the basic equation for constraint analysis can be obtained as − 0.06
Γ = 0.9727WTO (4)
follows:
{ [ ( )2 ( ) ] [ ]} In the flight segment of a passenger aircraft, the aircraft weight is only
TSL β qS nβ WTO nβ WTO 1d V2 related to the weight of fuel consumption. Therefore, the following
= K1 +K2 +CD0 +CDR + h+
WTO α βWTO q S q S V dt 2g formula can be obtained:
(2)
dW dWF
=− = − T × sfcT (5)
where, α is the installation thrust change rate, β is the weight ratio, n is dt dt
the load coefficient, K1 and K2 are the relationship coefficient between where, T is the installation thrust, sfcT is the installation fuel consump­
lift coefficient and drag coefficientCD0 is the drag coefficient, CDR is the tion rate, and it can be calculated by experience using the following
additional drag coefficient, S is the wing area, q = ρV2/2 represents equation:
dynamic pressure. √̅̅̅
Equation (2) can be expressed as a functional relationship between sfcT = ηfuel (C1 + C2 Ma) θ (6)
TSL/WTO and WTO/S. In different aircraft flight segments (takeoff, loiter,
acceleration, cruise, and landing, etc.), the above formula can be derived where, θ is the static temperature ratio, and C1 and C2 are the constants
into different expressions, which can be transformed into the corre­ that can be determined by the type of task and the engine working state.
sponding boundaries in the TSL/WTO and WTO/S constraint diagrams. To compare the effects of different types of fuels such as hydrogen,
Based on the constraint space, the corresponding solution space for the ammonia, n-decane, methanol, and traditional aviation kerosene on the
aircraft design point can be obtained. basic parameters of aircraft, a fuel correction coefficient ηfuel is intro­
duced, it is defined as the ratio of the other fuel’s calorific value to the
2.2. Mission analysis RP-3 fuel calorific value:
HsRP− 3
After determining the design values of aircraft thrust load (TSL/WTO) ηfuel = (7)
Hsfuel
and wing load (WTO/S) through constraint analysis, and further
combining with the aircraft mission requirements, in this section, based Based on the relationship between the aircraft empty weight ratio
on the characteristics of engine thrust and fuel consumption, the Γ = WE /WTO , mission payload WPP, and fuel consumption throughout
mathematical relationship between aircraft takeoff weight and engine the entire flight mission, the total takeoff weight that meets the aircraft’s
∏
thrust fuel consumption rate is established, and the relative proportion mission requirements is obtained, as shown in equation (8), where is
1 n
of fuel consumption for all flight mission segments is obtained, and the
the product of each mission segment weight ratios.
aircraft total takeoff weight WTO and the thrust TSL that meets the
mission planning requirements are determined. WPP
WTO = ∏ (8)
The takeoff weight of an aircraft mainly consists of three parts, − Γ
including payload (WP), aircraft empty weight (WE), and fuel weight 1 n

(WF): Under the determined flight mission, given the initial value of the
aircraft’s takeoff weight WTO, the iterative calculation process depicted

4
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Table 1
Dimensionless flow rate of the engine each section.
Engine section Flow Dimensionless flow rate
symbol

2 Engine inlet ma2 (1+α1)(1+α2)(1+α3)

33 Third bypass inlet ma33 α3(1+α1)(1+α2)
22 After-fan inlet ma22 (1+α1)(1+α2)
23 Second bypass inlet ma23 α2(1+α1)
24 CDFS inlet ma24 (1+α1)
25 High copressor inlet ma25 1
13 First bypass inlet ma13 α1
Fig. 4. Structural diagram of the three axis fuel precooled turbine engine. 3 High copressor outlet ma3 1-β-e1-e2-e3
4 Main Combustion outlet mg4 1-β-e1-e2-e3+mfb
44 High-pressure turbine mg44 1-β-e2-e3+mfb
in Fig. 3 can be used to obtain the aircraft’s sea level takeoff weight WTO, outlet
and then the maximum thrust TSL required for takeoff can be obtained. 46 Middle-pressure turbine mg46 1-β-e3+mfb
outlet
48 Low-pressure turbine mg48 1-β-e3+α1+mfb + mfbin
3. Thermal cycle calculation of fuel precooling turbine engine
inlet
6 Low-pressure turbine mg6 1-β+α1+mfb + mfbin
After determining the required thrust TSL for the aircraft through outlet
constraint analysis and mission analysis, the parameter cycle analysis 7 Mixer&Afterburner outlet mg7 AB-off: (1+α1)(1+α2)(1+α3)-β+mfb
method needs to be used to preliminarily determine the engine perfor­ + mfbin
AB-on: (1+α1)(1+α2)(1+α3)-β+mfb
mance design parameters.
+ mfbin + mfa
The research object of this paper is a precooled three-axis multi 9 Nozzle outlet mg9 AB-off: (1+α1)(1+α2)(1+α3)-β+mfb
operating mode turbine engine. Its basic structure diagram is shown in + mfbin
Fig. 4. Since the specific size of the engine has not been determined at AB-on: (1+α1)(1+α2)(1+α3)-β+mfb
+ mfbin + mfa
this stage, the thermal cycle analysis adopts the component flow path
calculation method based on the dimensionless processing of the core
engine flow [31,32]. The Gordon-McBride balance algorithm is used for And the dimensionless flow rate of the engine in each section can be
component calculation. The air and combustion gas at the inlet and represented by Table 1.
outlet of each section is simulated as the one-dimensional flow of ideal
gas.
3.2. Component calculation
3.1. Dimensionless flow calculation for engines
3.2.1. Precooler
The airflow flowing into the high-pressure compressor is defined as For the precooler calculation, this paper adopts the equivalent fuel
the core flow rate, then the bypass ratio of the core engine α1 is: precooling method to cool the engine intake air. The heat transfer effi­
ciency of the precooler is defined as [33]:
ma13
α1 = (9) ( )
ma25 Q m⋅ cpair,in ⋅Ttair,in − cpair,outact ⋅Ttair,outact
ηPC = act = ( ) (14)
The airflow rate ratio from the outlet of the After-fan into the second Qmax m⋅ cpair,in ⋅Ttair,in − cpair,outideal ⋅Ttair,outideal
bypass to the airflow flow rate into the CDFS is defined as α2:
where, Qact is the actual heat exchange of the precooler, Qmax is the
ma23 theoretical maximum heat exchange of the precooler. The theoretical
α2 = (10)
ma24 maximum heat transfer between precooled fuel and engine inlet hot air
The airflow rate ratio from the Front-fan outlet into the third bypass is expressed as:
to the airflow into the After-fan is defined as α3: Qmax = Qfuel,phy + Qfuel,chem (15)
ma
α3 = 33 (11)
ma22 where, the subscript phy represents the physical heat absorption of the
fuel, and chem represents the heat absorption of the chemical cracking
Then the engine inlet dimensionless flow rate ma2 can be expressed
of the fuel.
as:
The fuel physical heat absorption calculation formula is:
ma2 = (1 + α1 )(1 + α2 )(1 + α3 ) (12) ( )
Qphy = mfuel ⋅ cp,out ⋅ Ttfuel,out − cp,in ⋅ Ttfuel,in (16)
The cooling airflow rate for cooling the low-pressure turbine from
the CDFS outlet is defined as mac3, the cooling airflow rate for cooling The fuel chemical cracking heat absorption calculation formula is:
the middle-pressure turbine from the intermediate stage of the Qchem = mfuel ⋅Hsfuel ⋅Crfuel (17)
compressor is mac2, the cooling airflow rate for cooling the high-pressure
turbine from the compressor outlet is mac1, and the airflow rate from the where, Hs is the fuel cracking heat sink and Cr is the fuel cracking rate.
outlet of the compressor to the engine outside is maexit. The airflow rate And the enthalpy of air at the precooler outlet can be calculated by:
can be expressed as:
ht21 = ht2 − Qact (18)
mac3 = e3 ⋅ma25
mac2 = e2 ⋅ma25 The temperature of the air cooled by the precooler can be calculated
(13) from the enthalpy value of the outlet air. The total outlet pressure at the
mac1 = e1 ⋅ma25
maexit = β⋅ma25 air end of the precooler is:
Pt,out = Pt,in ⋅σPC (19)
where, e represents the bleed ratio coefficient of each cooling airflow, β
denotes the deflation ratio coefficient.

5
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

3.2.2. Compression component ⎧[ ]

β V9
⎫
⎪ ⎪
For compression components, the input parameters are pressure / ⎪
⎨ (1 + fo ) −
⎪ − M0 ⎪
⎪
⎬
ma2 a0
ratio π, adiabatic efficiency η, and inlet cross-sectional gas thermal pa­ Fsp = F m0 = a0 [ ] (27)
⎪ β R9 T9 a0 1 − P0 /P9 ⎪
rameters, while the output parameters are outlet cross-sectional gas ⎪
⎪
⎩ + (1 + fo ) − ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅
⎪
⎪
⎭
thermal parameters and compression component power consumption. ma2 R0 T0 V9 γ0
The calculation formula is as follows:
3600⋅fo
sfc = (28)
PAC, out = PAC, in ⋅π AC F/m0
htAC,out i − htAC,in
ηAC = (20) Fsp
htAC,out − htAC,in Isp = (29)
( ) g⋅fo
WAC = maAC ⋅ htAC,out − htAC,in
F⋅V0
ηP = ( )/ (30)
3.2.3. Combustion component mg9 ⋅V92 − ma0 ⋅V02 2
For combustion components, the input parameters are combustion
outlet temperature, combustion inlet gas thermal parameters, and fuel/ sfc =
fo
air ratio. According to the energy balance shown in equation (21), the F/m0
dimensionless fuel flow rate of the combustion can be obtained through ( )/
iterative calculation: ηTH =
mg9 ⋅V92 − ma0 ⋅V02 2
(31)
( ) mfuel ⋅Hu
mf ⋅ Hu + min ⋅ htin = mf + min ⋅htout (21)
fo
The dimensionless fuel flow rate in the main combustion can be sfc =
expressed as: F/m0

mfb =
(ht4 − ht3 )
⋅(1 − β − e1 − e2 − e3 ) (22) 3.3.2. Exergy performance
(ηb ⋅Hu − ht4 ) For the purpose of quickly evaluating the impact of different design
The dimensionless fuel flow rate of the interstage combustion can be parameters on engine fuel utilization efficiency from the engine
expressed as: parameter design stage, this paper introduces the exergy analysis
method [34–38] to reasonably determine engine performance design
(ht48 − ht47 ) ( ) parameters from multiple perspectives.
mfbin = ⋅ 1 − β − e3 + α1 + mfb (23)
(ηbin ⋅Hu − ht48 ) For the exergy analysis of the engine design stage, as the engine inlet
flow rate has not been fully determined at this time, referring to the
The dimensionless fuel flow of the afterburner can be expressed as:
parameter cycle analysis method, the equivalent net propulsion exergy
(ht7 − ht6A ) ( ) is defined as [39]:
mfa = ⋅ (1 + α1 )(1 + α2 )(1 + α3 ) − β + mfb + mfbin (24)
(ηab ⋅Hu − ht7 )
ĖxPr,Eng = Fsp ⋅V0 (32)
3.2.4. Turbine component The engine inlet equivalent exergy can be defined as:
For turbine components, the input parameters are turbine adiabatic ( )
efficiency and turbine inlet gas thermal parameters. Based on the power ĖxEng = ĖxKN F
Eng + ĖxEng (33)
balance, the turbine drop pressure ratio and outlet gas thermal param­
eters can be calculated. Where, ĖxKN
Eng is the kinetic energy of the air flow at the inlet of the engine
PGT, in fan, and ĖxFEng is the fuel energy input into the engine combustion. The
πGT =
PGT, out calculation formulas are as follows
htGT,in − htGT,out (25) /
ηGT = KN
ĖxEng = ṁa0 ⋅V0 2 2000 (34)
htGT,in − htGT,outi
( ) /
WGT = mgGT ⋅ htGT,out − htGT,in = WAC ηm ( )
F
ĖxEng = ṁfuel ⋅ εCH PH
fuel + εfuel (35)
For the two air stream mixing process at the inlet of the interstage
combustion or the mixing, this paper calculates the thermal parameters Where, εCH and εPH are the chemical exergy rate and the physical exergy
of the mixed gas based on the laws of energy conservation and mo­ rate of fuel.
mentum conservation. Then the engine waste exergy rate is:

3.3. Calculation of engine performance parameters ĖxWE,Eng = ĖxEng − ĖxPr,Eng = ĖxKN F

Eng + ĖxEng − ĖxPr,Eng (36)

The exergetic efficiency of the whole engine [40] is:

3.3.1. Thermal performance
By using the above thermal parameter cycle analysis method, the ĖxPr,Eng ĖxPr,Eng
φEng = = KN (37)
characteristics of each component can be obtained, including the drop ĖxEng F
ĖxEng + ĖxEng
pressure ratio of the turbines, the fuel gas ratio of the combustion, the
temperature and pressure of each section.
3.3.3. Component weight calculation
Based on the above component characteristics, the engine perfor­
By combining the required sea level takeoff thrust of the aircraft
mance can be calculated, including the total fuel/air ratio fo, specific
determined through mission analysis and designing a reasonable num­
thrust Fsp, specific impulse Isp, propulsion fuel consumption rate Sfc,
ber of engines to match the aircraft, the inlet air flow rate of each engine
propulsion efficiency ηP, and thermal efficiency ηTH:
can be calculated:
mfb + mfbin + mfa
fo = (26)
ma2

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C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Fig. 5. Multi-objective optimization method for design parameters of fuel precooled turbine engine.

√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
the fan stage, the fan weight equation can be expressed as:
TSL Pt2 288.15
m0 = ⋅ ⋅ (38)
n⋅Fsp 101325 Tt2 N
massF = KF (Dt )2.7 (40)
(AR)0.5
Based on the engine inlet flow rate and the following equation, the x,r

actual cross-sectional size parameters of the starting engine can be

where, Dt represents the outer radius of the fan, N represents the number
preliminarily calculated. From this, the weight of rotating components
of fan stages, and KF is 135. AR represents the axial aspect ratio of fan
can be preliminarily estimated.
blades, defined as the ratio of the fan inlet blade height to the axial chord
√̅̅̅̅
Tt length of the rotor at the hub, which can be set to 4.5 [41] during the
A = m⋅ √̅̅̅̅̅( ) γ+1 (39) design phase.
Pt ⋅M γgRc 1 + γ−2 1M 2 2(1− γ)
The weight of the compressor is fitted by empirical parameters, as
The weight of the fan stage includes rotor blades, rotor hub and shown in formula (41):
center cone, stator blades, casing, and support pillars (which can be
integrated with the stator). Through a simplified theoretical analysis of

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C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

⎡ ⎤
Table 2
[ ]c
U ⎢
⎢
LAC ⎥
⎥ Mach 4 commercial flight mission profile.
(41)
DAC,M,1
massPC = KAC D2.2 1.2
AC,M NAC
( AC,t) ⎢1 + ( ) ⎥
UAC,t Ref ⎣ LAC ⎦ Phase Description
DAC,M,1
Ref
1–2 ①Field is H = 0 km, with air temperature of 15 ◦ C, fuel
Warm-up and take off allowance is 3min at idle power for taxi;
where, KAC is taken as 24.2,DAC,M is the average radius, NAC is the ②)Takeoff ground roll plus 3s rotation distance should
be less than 1800 m on hard runway(μTO = 0.05), VTO
number of compressor stages, UAct is the blade tip velocity, UACt is the
= 1.2Vstall(Vstall is the minimum takeoff velocity
reference value of 335 m/s, LAC/DAC,M is the ratio of the compressor allowed.)
axial length to the inlet flat radius, (LAC/DAC,M)ref is the ratio of the 2–3 Climb and accelerate to H = 9 km, Ma = 0.9 in
reference length to the reference average inlet radius. Subsonic climb and maximum power, climb time should less than 180s.
The weight of the turbine is fitted by empirical parameters, as shown acceleration
3–4 Accelerate from Ma0.9 to Ma1.2 at the H = 9 km in
in equation (42):
Tran-sonic acceleration maximum power, acceleration time should less than
50s.
mGT = KGT D2.5 0.6
GT,M NGT UGT,t (42)
4–5 Climb and accelerate to H = 24 km, Ma = 4.0 in
Supersonic climb and maximum power, climb time should less than 700s.
where, KGT is taken as 7.9, DGT,M is the average radius of the turbine, NGT acceleration
is the turbine stage, UGT,t is the turbine blade tip speed. It is worth noting 5–6 Cruise at Ma = 4.0 and best cruise altitude, range =
that in order to meet the strength requirements, the ratio of turbine Cruise 4000 km.
6–7 Descend to H = 10 km, Ma = 0.95. Cruise for 200 km.
outlet diameter to height is set to 5.5 [42], and the isentropic enthalpy
Descend and subsonic
drop of a single turbine is set to 150 kJ/kg. cruise
7–8 Descend to H = 5 km, Ma = 0.4. Loiter for 15min for
Descend and loiter landing.
3.4. Multi-objective optimization for engine design parameters 8–9 ①Field is H = 0 km, with air temperature of 15 ◦ C,
Landing ②Free ground roll plus 3s braking rotation distance
According to the calculation of the engine performance parameters should be less than 2000 m on hard runway.
in Section 3.3, it is necessary to select appropriate component parame­
ters during the design phase to ensure that the engine performance
objective function is f(xk ) = J. Since the constraint relationships are
meets multiple goals such as specific thrust, specific impulse, fuel con­
second-order continuous differentiable, the optimization problem can
sumption, exergy efficiency, structural weight, etc. These performance
be simplified into a typical optimization problem with inequality con­
goals are often contradictory. For example, if a large specific thrust is
straints, as shown in the following equation:
pursued, the designed engine fuel consumption will be hard to bear.
Conventional experience based methods often find it difficult to obtain min f (xk )
(44)
satisfactory design parameters under such multi performance target s.t. gi (xk ) ≤ 0, i = 1, 2, …, 18
requirements. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi-engine perfor­ For the purpose of obtaining the engine design parameters that take
mance target optimization design method based on the improved SQP into account the multi-objective performance, the SQP method is used to
(Sequential Quadratic Programming) algorithm [43] to determine the optimize the design parameters. SQP algorithm uses Newton method to
optimal engine design parameters. The basic idea is depicted in Fig. 5. find the solution of Lagrange conditions for constrained optimization
Unlike single objective optimization, multi-objective optimization problems. With this algorithm, we can transform the problem into a
often does not achieve optimal results for each objective, but rather quadratic programming problem. However, the traditional SQP algo­
yields an optimal solution that takes into account all objectives. In the rithm only has local convergence, and the generated iteration point may
process of selecting engine design parameters, it is difficult to directly not be a feasible point. At the same time, it also needs to calculate the
find a convincing and optimal advantage. Therefore, it is necessary to second derivative of the Lagrange function, and the second derivative
use optimization algorithms to help us select the optimal set of design matrix may not be positive definite, which will affect the stability of the
parameters from a range of options. Due to the fact that the optimization algorithm. Therefore, we use the DFP (Davidan Fletcher Powell) formula
results must simultaneously reflect considerations for Fsp, Sfc, φENG, and to make the algorithm globally convergent and avoid the calculation of
Masstotal, the objective function J is set as the linear weighted sum of the the second derivative; meanwhile, with the aim of preventing the iter­
four. This can not only obtain the optimal solution but also simplify the ation point from exceeding the constraint range, the inexact line search
calculation. At the same time, it is necessary to constrain the upper and method is selected to calculate the moving step size.
lower limits of engine design parameters to represent the optional range,
as shown in the following equation [44]:
Fsp Sfc Masstotal φEng
min J = − ωi + ω2 + ω3 − ω4
(πFfan ,πAfan ,πCDFS ,πHC , Fspi Sf ci Masstotal i φEng i
α1 ,α2 ,α3 ,Tt4 ,Tt4 8
⎧
πmin ≤ π ≤ πmax (43)
⎪
⎪
⎨
s.t. αmin ≤ α ≤ αmax
⎪
⎪
⎩
Tt min ≤ Tt ≤ Tt max

Where, the subscript i represents the basic values of each performance

parameter, with the aim to dimensionless each performance parameter
to simplify the objective function, ω1, ω2, ω3, ω4 represent the propor­
tion of each performance parameter (all nonnegative values), and due to
the demand for high thrust and high exergy efficiency, a negative sign
needs to be added before it. The parameters which need to be optimized
are represented as xk = [πFfan , πAfan , πCDFS , πHC , α1 , α2 , α3 , Tt4 , Tt48 ] (9
design parameters), and the corresponding 18 constraints are gi (xk ). The Fig. 6. Constraint analysis results.

8
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Fig. 7. Comparison of aircraft design parameters.

4. Results and discussions

Aiming at the supersonic commercial flight at Mach 4.0 with the

precooled turbine engine, the integrated flight/engine simulation and
analysis are conducted in this section. The aerodynamic characteristics
of the Ma4 airliner refer to the results of the supersonic airliner lift co­
efficient CL and drag coefficient CD wind tunnel test [45]. The designed
passenger capacity is 60 people, the per capita load is 100 kg, the total
commercial load is 6 tons, and the Mach number 4.0 supersonic cruise
range is 4000 km. The corresponding flight mission profile is listed in
Table 2.

4.1. Constraint and mission analysis results

Based on the mission profile for Mach 4.0 commercial flight
mentioned above, this section first conducts corresponding constraint
analysis, and the results are exhibited in Fig. 6. The area above the
constraint curve is a feasible solution that can meet the mission re­
quirements. From the perspective of aircraft design, we hope that the
takeoff thrust-weight ratio and the aircraft wing load are as small as
possible. Therefore, through constraint analysis, we preliminarily
choose the aircraft thrust-weight ratio TSL/WTO of 0.63, and the wing
load WTO/S of 4.2 kPa (as marked by the red star in the figure).
On the basis of constraint analysis, further mission analysis and
simulation are conducted, and the results are shown in the following
figure. Under the same thrust-weight ratio, wing load, and commercial
load, the final aircraft design parameters obtained through mission
analysis exhibit significant differences caused by various fuel properties.
From Fig. 7, it can be concluded that due to the lowest combustion heat
Fig. 8. Comparison of fuel consumption at different flight mission points.
value of ammonia fuel, the weight and volume of fuel consumed to
complete the same flight mission are much larger than traditional hy­
drocarbon fuel, resulting in corresponding increases in aircraft takeoff
weight, takeoff thrust, and wing area. Thanks to its highest calorific
value, the 4.0 Mach commercial flight aircraft using hydrogen fuel
precooled engine minimizes the takeoff weight, takeoff thrust, wing
area, and other parameters. However, because of the small volume
density of hydrogen fuel, the fuel volume required to achieve this
mission has increased by 240% compared to conventional RP-3 fuel.
This poses a significant challenge to the aerodynamic design and in­
ternal space allocation design of the aircraft. Compared to conventional
RP-3 fuel, precooling with n-decane fuel can reduce takeoff weight by

9
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Table 3 4.3% and fuel consumption by 11.6%, which has certain advantages.
Engine design parameters (H = 20 km, Ma = 2.35). Fig. 8 demonstrates that during the entire flight mission, the climb and
Parameter Value Parameter Value supersonic cruise phases have the highest fuel consumption, and
hydrogen fuel precooled engines have great advantages.
πFF 2.4518 ηHT 0.88
ηFF 0.8783 ηMT 0.899
πAF 1.25 ηLT 0.906 4.2. Comparison of engine performance parameters
ηAF 0.882 σIC 0.96
πCDFS 1.5758 ηIC 0.99
ηCDFS 0.872 α1 1.08
With the intention of further evaluating the impact of using different
πHC 4.57 α2 0.27 fuel types on the design process of precooled turbine engines, this sec­
ηHC 0.8299 α3 0.04 tion uses engine thermal cycle analysis method based on the constraint
T4 2400K ηMC 0.99 analysis and mission analysis mentioned above to study the impact of
T48 2400K 0.965
σAB
different fuel precooling on the thermodynamic performance of the
σMC 0.9487 ηAB 0.93
engine. Firstly, based on a conventional supersonic turbine engine using
RP-3 fuel without precooling, the same design parameters (as listed in
Table 3) are used to compare and analyze the impact of different fuel

Fig. 9. Comparison of engine performance parameters.

10
C. Cai et al.
Fig. 10. Comparison of rotating component weights.
precooling on the engine performance. The results are shown in Figs. 9
and 10.
From the simulation results in Fig. 9, it can be manifest that under
the same total temperature at the combustion outlet, the same
compression component pressure ratio, and bypass ratio design pa­
rameters, there are both similarities and some differences in the engine
performance parameters between the conventional RP-3 fuel engine and
the other three fuel precooled engines. The ηP, ηTH, and φENG of different
fuel engines are basically at the same level. The n-decane fuel precooled
turbine engine has the highest φENG, while the ammonia fuel precooled
engine has the lowest ηTH, which is 7% lower than the conventional RP-3
engine, but has the highest ηP with a 4.31% improvement.
In Fig. 9(e), the ammonia fuel precooled engine has the highest Fsp,
while the hydrogen fuel precooled engine has a 6% decrease in Fsp
compared to conventional engines. This simulation result may differ
from the simulation results in Ref. [12] and other literature. This is
because the simulation results in Ref. [12] are based on the premise that
various fuels are burned in an appropriate fuel/air ratio(fuel equiva­
lence ratio φ = 1). This simulation assumption is difficult to achieve in
actual engine design. Limited by the temperature resistance of turbine
materials, in the engine design process, the design value of the com­
bustion outlet temperature is usually given to calculate the engine fue­
l/air ratio. The combustion is usually in a lean fuel combustion state. For
example, in this paper, under the design value of 2400K total temper­
ature at the combustion outlet, the main combustion fuel equivalence
Fig. 11. Comparison of specific thrust-fuel consumption with variable pressure ratio.
11
Energy 280 (2023) 128161
ratios of n-decane, ammonia, and hydrogen precooled engines are
0.587, 0.733, and 0.513, respectively, and the fuel equivalence ratios of
the interstage combustion chamber are 0.801, 0.892, and 0.660,
respectively. Therefore, under the same design conditions of combustion
outlet temperature, the Fsp of hydrogen fuel engines is not higher than
that of other engines. On the other hand, according to the thrust
calculation formula (27), it can be concluded that during the thermal
cycle design stage, the engine flow rate has not been determined yet.
Under the same engine inlet conditions and the fully expanded nozzle
state, the engine thrust is only related to the total fuel/air ratio fo and the
nozzle outlet gas velocity V9. Benefited by the highest calorific value of
hydrogen fuel, the equivalent mass of fuel consumed to achieve the same
combustion outlet temperature is the smallest, i.e. fo is the smallest,
corresponding to the maximum fo of ammonia fuel engine. Moreover,
with the same total temperature at the combustion outlet, the difference
in total temperature at the nozzle outlet section is relatively small, that
is, the difference in V9 is relatively small. The combined effect of the two
parameters results in the maximum Fsp of the ammonia fuel precooled
engine and the relatively minimum Fsp of the hydrogen fuel precooled
engine under the design parameters in Table .3. Besides, as demon­
strated in Fig. 9(a), since the low calorific value of ammonia fuel and the
high equivalent mass flow rate of ammonia fuel, it brings the most heat
sink and the most prominent temperature drop effect of the precooler.
As depicted in Fig. 9(f) and (h), ammonia fuel precooled engines have
the smallest specific impulse and the highest fuel consumption, while
hydrogen fuel precooled engines have the most advantages.
Fig. 9(g) illustrates the preliminary estimation of the required
airflow level for different fuel precooled engines based on formula (38),
with two engines providing power. The ammonia fuel precooled engine
requires the highest flow rate, which means it needs to have the largest
size structure. Fig. 10 shows the weight comparison of corresponding
rotating parts. It can be seen from the figure that for a high-speed turbine
engine with a three rotor structure, fans and low-pressure turbines ac­
count for a large proportion of the weight of rotating parts. Compared to
conventional RP-3 engines, precooling with n-decane fuel can reduce
the Masstotal by 9.3%, while precooling with hydrogen fuel has the most
significant weight reduction effect, reaching 34.6%; But the Masstotal of
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Fig. 12. Comparison of exergy efficiency and specific impulse with variable pressure ratio.

Fig. 13. Comparison of specific thrust-fuel consumption with variable channel ratio.

the ammonia fuel precooled engine is the heaviest, an increase of 50.5%.
4.3. Multi-objective optimization simulation of engine design parameters
According to the simulation results of the engine performance pa­
rameters in Section 4.2, although fuel precooling reduces the total
temperature of the fan inlet and improves the working ability of the
compression components, under the same design parameters, the fuel
precooling engine cannot fully utilize its advantages. Compared with the
conventional RP-3 fuel high-speed turbine engine, there is no significant
improvement in performance. Therefore, this section further explores
multi-objective optimization methods based on engine performance

12
C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Table 5
Comparison of engine performance parameters through optimization.
Fuel precooled Engine performance parameter
turbine engine type
Parameter Fsp Sfc Masstotal φEng
Source (N⋅s/ (kg/ (kg)
kg) (s⋅N))

C10H22 Base 974 0.1337 907 0.3240

Optim 996 0.1323 909 0.3279
Relative 2.3 − 1.1 0.2 1.2
change %
NH3 Base 1003 0.3534 1416 0.3178
Optim 1109 0.3458 1435 0.3264
Relative 7.3 − 2.2 1.3 2.7
change %
H2 Base 906 0.0526 640 0.3267
Optim 961 0.0517 676 0.3696
Fig. 14. Comparison of specific thrust-fuel consumption with variable com­ Relative 6.0 − 1.8 5.6 2.3
bustion outlet temperature. change %

parameters to determine the optimal component design parameters.
In order to determine the optimization range of component design
parameters and avoid local optima during the multi-parameter optimi­
zation process as much as possible, the impact of different design
parameter changes on the engine performance is analyzed. Figs. 11 and
12 reveal the impact of changes in compression component pressure
ratio on the performance of different fuel engines, Fig. 13 demonstrates
the impact of changes in bypass ratio on the Fsp and Sfc of the engine, and
Fig. 14 shows the effect of the total temperature change at the com­
bustion outlet on the Fsp and Sfc of the engine.
From the results of Figs. 11 and 12, it can be concluded that the
changes in pressure ratios of different compression components have
different effects on engine performance. Especially, an increase in CDFS
pressure ratio will lead to a decrease in Isp and φEng, while an increase in
pressure ratios of Front and After fans and high-pressure compressors
can lead to a higher level of engine Isp and φEng. For the trend of engine
Fsp and Sfc, we hope to be located in the lower right area of Fig. 11,
which is high Fsp and low Sfc. For hydrogen and ammonia precooled
engines, increasing the pressure ratio of the high-pressure compressor
can achieve this goal. For n-decane precooled engines, increasing the
pressure ratio of the Front and After fans can to some extent meet this
demand.
It is apparent from Fig. 13 that the influence of bypass ratio on engine
performance is relatively linear, the impact of α1 andα2 α3 shows an
opposite trend, the increase of α2 α3 will cause a decrease in Sfc, but it
will also result in a decrease in Fsp. The change of α2 has a more sig­
nificant impact on engine performance, while the increase of α1 will
result in an increase in Sfc and Fsp. Fig. 14 indicates that the outlet
temperature of the main combustion and the interstage combustion also
have an opposite trend on engine performance. The change in interstage
combustion outlet temperature has a more significant impact on engine
performance. Increasing the outlet temperature of the main combustion
can achieve the goal of high Fsp and low Sfc. Although increasing the
outlet temperature of the interstage combustion can increase the Fsp of
the engine, it also leads to an increase in Sfc.
After the above analysis, we can conclude that changing the bypass
ratio cannot achieve the goals of high Fsp and low Sfc. In theory, the
higher the combustion outlet temperature, the better. However, limited
by the temperature resistance of the material, the 2400K design point in
this paper is almost at the ideal upper limit. However, the pressure ratio
of the Front and After fans and compressor have great optimization
space. Increasing the compressor pressure ratio is beneficial for
increasing the engine’s Fsp and reducing Sfc. Moreover, since the fuel
precooling reduces the fan inlet total temperature, it is feasible to in­
crease the pressure ratio as much as possible within the compressor
outlet total temperature limit. Therefore, in multi-objective optimiza­
tion of engine design parameters, we can appropriately expand the
range of compressor pressure ratio to further explore the potential of
fuel precooled engines.
Fig. 15, Table 4, and Table 5 show the simulation results based on
multi-objective engine performance. From Fig. 15, it can be demon­
strated that for different fuel types of precooled engines, the perfor­
mance results obtained by optimizing the maximum Fsp and minimum
Masstotal have certain similarities. However, according to the optimiza­
tion results of the ammonia fuel precooled engine design parameters in
Table 4, although the engine performance parameter results are similar,
there are certain differences in component design parameters, especially
in the high-pressure compressor pressure ratio and interstage combus­
tion outlet temperature. The design parameters obtained with the goal of
maximum Fsp are all at the upper limit of the parameter selection range,
while the design parameters obtained with the goal of minimum Mas­
stotal are at the lower limit. Besides, taking the minimum Sfc and
maximum φEng as optimization objectives, the optimization results are
consistent. It should be pointed out that, using this parameter as the
optimization objective will result in a significant decrease in the
designed engine Fsp, a sharp increase in the weight of rotating compo­
nents, and also bring the compressor outlet total temperature close to
the limit value.
In an effort to balance design indicators such as low fuel consump­
tion, high thrust, and low weight, we propose formula (43) method,
which utilizes linear weighting of various performance parameters to
obtain a compromise performance function that takes into account

Table 4
Comparison of multi-objective optimization design parameter results for ammonia fuel precooled engine.
Optimization objectives Design parameters

πFfan πAfan πCDFS πHC α1 α2 α3 Tt4 Tt48

[2.0, 3.0] [1.15, 1.5] [1.3, 1.8] [4.0, 8.0] [0.9, 1.2] [0.2, 0.4] [0.02, 0.06] [2000, 2400] [2000, 2400]

Fsp max 2.0 1.15 1.3 8.0 1.2 0.2 0.02 2400 2400
Sfc min 3.0 1.5 1.3 5.45 0.9 0.36 0.043 2400 2000
Mass min 2.0 1.15 1.3 4.0 1.2 0.2 0.02 2400 2000
φEng max 2.90 1.49 1.3 5.62 0.9 0.3 0.04 2400 2000
Multi-Optim 3.0 1.5 1.3 8.0 0.9 0.2 0.02 2400 2400

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C. Cai et al. Energy 280 (2023) 128161

Fig. 15. Multi-objective optimization results of fuel precooled engine performance.

14
C. Cai et al.
multiple performances. Through this multi-objective optimization,
satisfactory design parameters and results are obtained. As depicted in
Fig. 15, through multi-objective optimization, different types of fuel
precooled engines can achieve the goals of high Fsp, low Sfc, and high
φEng. At the same time, the total temperature at the compressor outlet is
also below the limit value, but the weight of rotating components will
slightly increase compared to the baseline state. As illustrated in Table 5,
through multi-objective optimization, the Fsp of the ammonia fuel pre­
cooled engine can be increased by 7.3%, the φEng can be increased by
2.7%, the Sfc can be reduced by 2.2%, and the total weight of rotating
components can be increased by only 1.3%. For the precooled engine
with n-decane fuel, as a result of the limited heat sink of n-decane pre­
cooling, the optimization of design parameters has little impact on the
engine performance; For hydrogen fuel precooled engines, although the
improvement in Fsp, φEng, and Sfc meets our expectations, the resulting
increase in the total weight of rotating components is more significant at
a cost. The optimized engine performance is brought back to the aircraft
mission analysis process, and it is found that the designed engine fuel
consumption and thrust performance meet the mission requirements.
Therefore, through the engine design parameter optimization method
based on multiple performance objectives proposed in this paper, we
obtained a fuel precooled turbine engine solution for commercial su­
personic flight.
Through multi-objective optimization of engine design parameters
and comparing the precooled temperature drop in Fig. 9 (a), we can
conclude that there is a significant positive correlation between the Fsp
improvement space of the precooled engine and the fuel precooled heat
sink. Ammonia and hydrogen have a higher pre cooling heat sink, which
can significantly reduce the compression components total inlet tem­
perature. According to the formula for calculating the conversion flow
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
Tt
rate of compression components macor = ma⋅101325 Pt ⋅ 288.15, when the
compression component inlet total temperature decreases, the
compression component converted flow rate also decreases. According
to the working characteristic diagram of the compression components, it
can be seen that at the same conversion speed, the working point of the
compression component moves towards the high-pressure ratio direc­
tion when the converted flow decreases, allowing the compression
component to provide a higher pressure ratio, thereby increasing engine
thrust. Therefore, the Fsp of the ammonia and hydrogen fuel precooled
engine increases significantly. Although the n-decane fuel precooled
engine has achieved performance improvement through optimization,
the performance improvement is relatively small due to insufficient
cooling heat sink. If appropriate dual fuel precooling with ammonia and
n-decane is used, the advantages of the n-decane high calorific value and
the ammonia high precooling heat sink can be effectively utilized, while
avoiding problems such as high fuel volume and fuel consumption,
which may improve the thrust and fuel consumption performance of the
engine. Therefore, we think that using dual fuel precooling with n-
decane and ammonia may be an ideal design solution for the supersonic
turbine engine.
5. Conclusion
With the aim of achieving high-performance design of fuel precool­
ing supersonic turbine engine and investigating the impact of fuel pre­
cooling on the turbine engine thermodynamic performance, this paper
carries out an integrated design method for aircraft/fuel precooled
turbine engine to evaluate the effects of n-decane, ammonia, and
hydrogen fuel precooled turbine engine on aircraft design parameters
and engine thermodynamic performance. A multi-objective optimiza­
tion method for engine design parameters that meets the requirements
of multiple engine performance objectives is proposed, and corre­
sponding simulation and analysis are conducted. The following con­
clusions are obtained:
15
Energy 280 (2023) 128161
1) With a commercial load of 6 tons and a cruising range of 4000 km at
4.0 Ma as the mission objective, the hydrogen fuel precooled engine
can achieve the design of the aircraft with the minimum takeoff
weight, minimum wing area, and minimum fuel load. However, the
parameters of the aircraft corresponding to the ammonia fuel pre­
cooled engine are all the maximum values, but both hydrogen fuel
and ammonia fuel have design difficulties with large fuel volumes;
2) Limited by the combustion outlet total temperature, under the same
engine design parameters, ammonia fuel precooled turbine engine
can achieve the maximum Fsp, while hydrogen fuel precooled turbine
engine can even achieve a lower Fsp than non precooled RP-3 turbine
engine; The performance of the precooled turbine engine using n-
decane fuel is comprehensively superior to that of the non precooled
RP-3 turbine engine.
3) The optimization method of fuel precooling turbine engine design
parameters based on multiple performance objectives can fully un­
leash the potential of fuel precooling for improving turbine engine
performance. For ammonia fuel precooled turbine engine, within the
compressor outlet temperature constraints, a 7.3% increase in Fsp, a
2.2% decrease in Sfc, and a 2.7% increase in φEng can be achieved, at
the cost of only 1.3% increase in Masstotal. This further verifies the
effectiveness of the engine parameter optimization design method
proposed in this paper.
In subsequent research work, we will explore the design scheme of
ammonia and n-decane dual fuel precooled turbine engine, explore their
emission characteristics, and further study the performance optimiza­
tion control methods of fuel precooled turbine engine.
Credit author statement
Changpeng Cai: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Vali­
dation, Writing – original draft; Haoying Chen: Conceptualization,
Writing – original draft; Juan Fang: Data curation, Validation; Qian­
gang Zheng: Investigation, Conceptualization; Cheng Chen: Data
curation, Visualization; Haibo Zhang: Project administration,
Supervision.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported in part by National Science and Technol­
ogy Major Project, China (Nos. J2019-II-0009-0053 and J2019-I-0020-
0019), in part by Innovation Centre for Advanced Aviation Power, China
(No. HKCX2020-02-022), in part by Postgraduate Research & Practice
Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. KYCX23_0395).
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