Performance investigation of ground cooling for the airbus A380 in the United Arab Emirates

A combination of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climate and the increased size of the super jumbo, Airbus A380, have exceeded the working capacity for current ground cooling techniques. These are evident when the aircraft is being prepared for flight and when in the hanger under maintenance with internal cabin temperatures reported at above 30 °C. The existing system used, delivers air at 11.6 °C after which the cabin temperature is still at a high temperature of 31 °C and unable to cool down due to the temperature rises caused by climate conditions and heat dissipation from the electronics in the cabin. The CFD based temperature profile results highlighted that a decrease in inlet temperature to −18 °C at a constant pressure and mass flow rate is sufficient to provide efficient cooling to the cabin at 22 °C. Boundary conditions are determined to specify a new effective cooling system and resolve the ground cooling issue.