An engineering thermal management computational tool capable of performing component, subsystem, and system level thermal management assessment, design and optimization is the subject of this paper. The Vehicle Integrated Thermal MAnagement Code (VITMAC) simulates the coupled aircraft active cooling system thermal-hydraulics, associated airframe structure thermal response, and vehicle internally/externally generated heat loads.
The formulation allows for predicting both the steady-state and transient thermal-hydraulic parameters along the coolant flow paths, as well as the temperature of the surrounding airframe/engine structures, to render the distributions of mass flow rate, pressure, and temperature of the operating fluids throughout the aircraft.
Steady-state and transient illustrative examples are presented in this paper to demonstrate code capabilities. These examples show the coupling between the coolant-side thermal-hydraulics and structure-side thermal response. Dynamic interactions among the network components, hydraulic fittings, pumps, turbines, and coolant supply tanks are clearly demonstrated.