Thermofluid Optimization of a Heated Helicopter Engine Cooling Bay Surface

In this paper, a global optimization technique based on the Adaptive Response Surface Method (ARSM) is integrated with a Control Volume Finite Element Method (CVFEM) for thermofluid optimization. The objective of the optimization is to improve the thermal effectiveness of an aircraft de-icing strategy by re-designing the cooling bay surface shape. The design optimization combines the modeling of heat conduction and potential fluid flow to investigate the complex thermofluid phenomena at the engine cooling bay. Based on the comparison between the ARSM predicted results and the plotted objective function, it is observed that the integrated technique provides an effective method for thermofluid optimization. The current method of integrating heat conduction, fluid flow, and optimization techniques shows a promising potential for subsequent extensions to more complex Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) problems. In addition, a novel pre-optimization technique is developed, and optimization results are presented and validated for the helicopter engine cooling bay problem. 1 Ph. D. Student. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada. 2 Associate Professor. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada. 3 Assistant Professor. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada.