Thermal analysis of fuel tank for aircraft

In order to investigate the changes of fuel temperature in aircraft fuel tanks in the process of flight, an unsteady thermal analysis model is developed based on the thermal network method. The model takes into account the heat transfer inside the fuel tank, at the same time, considering the convective and radiation heat transfer between the fuel tank wall and the external environment, as well as the aerodynamic heat, which extends the boundary conditions of thermal analysis to the outside of the tank. The Matlab/Simulink soft is applied to simulating the thermal characteristics of an aircraft fuel tank throughout the whole voyage. Comparisons show that the simulated results agree with the flight test data well. The maximum error is less than 3.2℃. The model could be used for thermal analysis for aircraft fuel tank system in the stage of aircraft design and the results could instruct the arrangement of heat source components inside and outside the fuel tanks.