Heat and mass transfer during ice accretion on aircraft wings with an improved roughness model

Abstract

This paper presents the thermodynamic model used in the numerical simulation of ice accreted on an airfoil surface in wet and dry regimes developed at AMIL (Anti-Icing Materials International Laboratory), in a joint project with CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center). The thermodynamic model combines mass and heat balance equations to an analytical representation of water states over the airfoil to calculate the surface roughness and masses of remaining, runback, and shedding liquid water. The water state on the surface is represented in the form of beads, film or rivulets, each situation corresponding to a particular roughness height which has a major impact on the heat transfer coefficients necessary for the heat and mass balances. The model has been tested for severe icing conditions at six different temperatures corresponding to dry, mixed and wet accretion. Water mass, roughness and heat transfer convection coefficients over the airfoil surface are presented. The thermodynamic model combined with an air flow, water trajectory, and geometric model provides accurate results. It generates the complex ice shapes observed on the wing profile, and the numerical ice shapes profiles agree well with those obtained in wind tunnel experiments.