Conceptual Design Exploration of Hydrogen Enhanced Intercooling for Future Aeroengines

Journal article, 2025

This paper introduces the hydrogen-enhanced intercooling concept, which relies on the fan discharge air and hydrogen fuel to cool the core air stream. This approach allows for far greater cooling potential compared to using only the fuel, while achieving reduced mass and volume compared to using only the fan discharge air. Various arrangements of the hydrogen-enhanced intercooler are assessed based solely on cooling potential, leading to the conclusion that some can be discarded without requiring further in-depth study. Methods for establishing design criteria for ice accretion, leakage, and structural failure are presented, along with aspects to consider when implementing a secondary fluid cycle. A case study is conducted in which various risk mitigation methods are applied and the impact on specific cooling power and coefficient of performance is calculated for both unconstrained and constrained designs. The in-house developed GenHEX method is used for the case study to explore a wide range of heat exchangers, with an objective function determining the designs with the highest performance based on pressure losses and weight.