General information
Title: Fast Topology-Optimised Heat Exchangers for Circular Aircraft MRO
Supervisors: Professor Rob Hewson, Dr Ajit Panesar
Reference code: BI0001
Project overview
Spare-parts inventories carry an environmental cost. Materials and energy are used to manufacture components that may remain in storage for years or become obsolete without ever being fitted. Producing parts locally when they are needed could reduce surplus production, warehousing, transport and waste. However, a component designed for one material and manufacturing process may not meet its performance requirements when produced using another.
This project will develop automated topology optimisation methods that adapt spare-part geometry to available materials and additive manufacturing equipment while maintaining required performance. The central question is how to meet the same specification across different production routes, accounting for variations in material properties and manufacturing capability. The methods will support on-demand production for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and airport ground operations.
A particular application will be thermal-fluid components supporting future hydrogen aviation. Selected heat-exchanger or vaporiser components for airport hydrogen infrastructure will provide a setting in which geometry, material choice and manufacturing constraints jointly affect heat transfer, pressure loss and structural performance. This connects the design research to the infrastructure needed to supply future aircraft and hydrogen-powered ground equipment.
Alongside the core design research, demand and inventory modelling will assess the wider potential to reduce spares holdings across airlines and airports. Life-cycle assessment will compare avoided stock, waste and transport with production energy, post-processing and component lifetime. The project aims to establish which parts could be supplied on demand, how much inventory could be avoided, and where this delivers a net environmental benefit while maintaining reliable operations.
Research objectives
The project will:
- Develop automated topology optimisation methods that adapt spare-part geometry to available materials and additive manufacturing equipment while preserving required performance.
- Create a differentiable optimisation framework combining physics-based modelling, gradient-based optimisation and scientific machine learning where it can reduce computational cost.
- Develop thermal-fluid models based on pressure-enthalpy formulations and coupled fluid and solid heat transfer.
- Extend the framework to hydrogen applications through the incorporation of appropriate fluid properties, boiling models and validation against hydrogen-specific experimental data.
- Demonstrate the approach using selected non-flight-critical spare parts redesigned and produced using different materials and manufacturing settings.
- Investigate thermal-fluid components for future airport hydrogen infrastructure through computational case studies, supported by published experimental evidence and laboratory demonstrators.
- Assess the potential for inventory reduction across airlines and airports through demand and inventory modelling.
- Evaluate environmental impacts using life-cycle assessment, comparing avoided stock, waste and transport with production energy, post-processing requirements and component lifetime.
Contact
We welcome enquiries from prospective applicants interested in the project or the doctoral programme. Please use the contacts below, depending on the nature of your enquiry.
Doctoral programme related enquires
brahmal-aviation@imperial.ac.uk
Project related enquires
- Professor Rob Hewson
- Dr Ajit Panesar
