Study on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Supercritical Aviation Kerosene in a Rectangular Wavy Microchannel

In a conventional turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine, the hot-end components and combustor wall surfaces bear extreme high- temperature thermal loads. To address this issue, researchers have been consistently exploring optimized cooling and heat transfer schemes. Relevant studies have shown that using aviation fuel as a heat sink can achieve effective thermal protection for such aero- engines. This paper carries out a numerical study on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of supercritical RP-3 aviation kerosene in a rectangular wavy microchannel, with a focus on the impacts of the wavelength-to-height ratio on heat transfer performance. The results show that the geometric structure of the wavy microchannel induces intense flow disturbances, which strengthen the internal energy exchange of the fluid and produce both longitudinal and transverse vortices. These vortices break and compress the thermal boundary layer, thus significantly enhancing the intensity of heat transfer. At the same time, the overall heat transfer performance is improved remarkably with relatively low resistance coefficients. Such excellent heat transfer characteristics can effectively mitigate thermal damage to high-temperature components, which is conducive to a notable improvement in their service life and operational safety.