Investigation on heat dissipation characteristics of composite fuel tank skins

The heat dissipation characteristics of fuel tank skins are critical for fuel thermal management. The overall heat transfer coefficient of the fuel tank skin mainly depends on the heat transfer coefficients inside and outside the bottom plate of the fuel tank, as well as the skin’s thermal conductivity and thickness. In this paper, a three-dimensional model is established based on the fluid-volume method to analyze the heat dissipation characteristics of composite fuel tank skins. The developed model was validated through various experimental tests. The results show that the air-side heat transfer coefficient has a significant effect on the total heat transfer coefficient of the skin, especially when the airplane is at a higher altitude or lower flight speed. The utilization of composite materials for the fuel tank skin reduces the overall heat transfer coefficient, and this reduction is more pronounced as the air-side convective heat transfer coefficient increases and the skin thickness increases. When the remaining fuel level is less than 20%, the overall heat transfer coefficient can increase by as much as 21. 1% compared to that of under full fuel conditions. The insights from this investigation are expected to benefit future fuel tank thermal management.