Computational fluid dynamics investigation of finding appropriate location of fluidic anti-icing protective panel on leading edge of wing

Abstract

In this article, determination of protective panel limits of fluidic anti-icing system on leading edge of the high aspect ratio wing of a piston powered aircraft is studied numerically. Define surfaces of wing to be protected against ice accretion is the most important part of fluidic anti-icing system design. The first step of numerical code is devoted to flow field computation using control volume method. The second step is calculation of droplet’s trajectory and impingement characteristics using the Euler approach and, finally, ice shape and ice accretion rate are obtained using the messenger model. The code was used to obtain ice shape and droplets impingement limit in different sections of the wing and, as a result, protection panel geometry limits were determined, on the wing’s upper and lower surfaces. Also, by the introduced method in this work, ice formation is predicted on NACA0012 airfoil, and a good agreement was shown between predicted ice shape and experimental data. Finally, environmental and airflow parameters effect on the limitation of protective panel are obtained. The results indicated that only two parameters, liquid water content and exposure time have no effect on the panel limits.