Experimental investigation of an ice particle impinging on a flat plate

Abstract

In the present study, we experimentally investigated the impinging process of an ice particle on a flat plate. A parameter study of impact velocity and impact angle of the ice particle was carefully carried out. Besides, the variations of fragments distribution and the mean dimensionless equivalent diameter of fragments were also analyzed. The results showed that the dimensionless equivalent diameters of most fragments concentrated in the range from 0.03 to 0.06. The relative frequency of the dimensionless equivalent diameter in the range from 0.03 to 0.06 increased with the dimensionless time, while the relative frequencies of the other ranges decreased. According to the results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) tests, the log-normal distribution was more suitable for our experimental results. However, as for the current impact velocities and impact angles, no clear relationship was found between the parameters of the log-normal distribution and the experimental conditions. In addition, the mean dimensionless equivalent diameter of fragments generally stabilized after a certain period of time, which gradually extended as the impact angle decreased. The effect of the impact angle on the change of the mean dimensionless equivalent diameter of fragments was not monotonous. Finally, based on the dimensionless parameter reported by Hauk et al. (2015), a new correlation of mean dimensionless equivalent diameter of fragments was proposed, which agreed well with our experimental results.