Numerical analysis on thermal–hydraulic performances of staggered tube bundles for an aero-engine compact precooler

The deeply precooled air-breathing technique is an effective approach to cool down the extreme hot incoming air for hypersonic engine. This paper investigates the thermal performance of staggered mini-tube bundle as the compact precooler for aero-engine application. The coupling heat exchange between the hot air and in-tube coolant is explored. Two methods (i.e., surface temperature method and LMTD method) are used to evaluate the airside heat...