Icing performance of stratospheric airship in ascending process

Abstract

The critical applications of the stratospheric airship require all weather launch capabilities. When the airship flies across icy clouds and confronts super cooled droplets in the ascending process, there exist the risk of ice accretion on the windward parts of the airship. A three dimensional ice accretion model is proposed to simulate the icing performance of a stratospheric airship in ascending process. The mathematical equations describe the ice accretion model are presented and the validation of the ice accretion model is carried out. Then, the influence of the thermal environment on the thermal performance of the airship is analyzed numerically, and a further inspection into the icing performance of a stratospheric airship is conducted. The results suggest that ice would accrete on the windward surface of the airship under certain conditions, ice accretion will change the aerodynamic performance and break the lift and gravity balance of the airship, which would seriously deteriorate the flight performance of the airship.