An analytical comparison of convective heat transfer correlations in supercritical hydrogen

Four correlations that cover the ranges of liquid to gas for turbulent flow convection of hydrogen are compared with CFD analysis over a range of expected design conditions for active cooling of hypersonic aircraft. Analysis of hydrogen cooling in a typical cooling panel shows how predicted design performance varies with the correlation utilized. The CFD heat transfer coefficient results for a heat spike differed significantly from all four correlations. An acceptable heat transfer coefficient can be calculated at the heat spike location by overlooking the coefficient at the spike and averaging the coefficient before and after the spike.