Modeling Water Droplet Freezing and Collision with a Solid Surface

Doston Shayunusov,Stein Tore Johansen,Dmitry Eskin,Boris V Balakin,Svyatoslav Chugunov,Iskander Akhatov

doi:10.3390/en14041020

Abstract

Water droplets released from the sea surface represent one of the major causes of ice accretion on marine vessels. A one-dimensional model of the freezing of a spherical water droplet moving in cold air was developed. The crystallization model allows one to obtain an analytical solution if a uniform temperature distribution over the liquid’s core is assumed. The model was validated using STAR CCM+ Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. A collision of a partially frozen droplet with a solid wall assuming the plastic deformation of an ice crust was also considered. The ratio of the crust deformation to the crust thickness was evaluated. It was assumed that if this ratio were to exceed unity, the droplet would stick to the wall’s surface due to ice bridge formation caused by the water released from the droplet’s core.

Highlights

Droplets may be generated on water surfaces under windy conditions
To analyze the interaction of a partially solidified droplet with a wall, we introduced the critical velocity, which indicates the equality of the plastic droplet’s deformation and the ice crust’s thickness
The formation of an ice crust was modeled by solving the heat conduction equation formulated in the moving coordinate system

Summary

Introduction

Droplets may be generated on water surfaces under windy conditions As they are transported with cold air, the droplets rapidly cool and either partially or entirely solidify. If it collides with a solid wall, such a partially frozen droplet may either stick to the wall’s surface or bounce off. Additional loads caused by ice formations alter the vessel’s or stationary structure’s center of mass, increasing construction instability risks Another important problem is the erosion of floating wind turbines. We limit our considerations to the development of a simple model of the cooling of a droplet, its partial solidification, and its further interaction with the solid wall surface. The simplicity of the model is justified by our intention to incorporate this model into a detailed CFD code developed for 3D simulations of the entire ice accretion process that will be adjusted, verified, and validated with experimental data

Droplet Cooling and Solidification

Particle–Wall Collision

Results and Discussion

Conclusions