Experimental and Computational Investigation of Ice Shedding from Aircraft Surfaces

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Ice particles shed from aircraft surfaces are a safety concern because they can damage aft mounted engines and other aircraft components. Current particle trajectory simulation methods have limited capabilities in predicting ice fragment trajectories. This is due to the random characteristics of the shed particles and lack of experimental aerodynamic data for ice fragments. This paper describes a new effort in developing a methodology for computing the trajectories of large ice particles. The methodology combines experimental aerodynamic characteristics of ice fragments, computational fluid dynamics, trajectory analysis and the Monte Carlo method to provide probability maps of shed particle footprints at desired locations. The methodology was applied to compute the trajectories of a square ice fragment and a rectangular plate shed in a three-dimensional uniform flowfield. Monte Carlo simulations were also performed where ice fragment parameters such as length, thickness, lift and drag coefficients, initial orientation, etc. were randomly changed and probability maps were computed.