Icing tests for the anti-icing structure with exterior hot air film heating

Abstract

An improved ice protection system using exterior hot air film heating has been brought out for those structurers manufactured with lower thermal conductivity materials, where the interior hot jet impact heat transfer combines with the exterior hot air film heating. To verify the effectiveness of our design methods for such type of ice protection system, the test specimen manufactured with composite materials and supporting structures are designed, and the icing tests in the icing wind tunnel are carried out for the ice meteorological conditions given by the military standard and airworthiness regulations. Simulations are conducted to evaluate the hot air flow distribution of each slot of the actual test specimen. The test results are very consistent with the prediction results of the design method under the combination of different hot air flow rates and temperature, and various possible icing forms are accurately predicted, from trace icing to severe icing. The practicability of the anti-icing structure using the hot air film heating and the effectiveness of the system design method were verified by tests and showed good application prospects.