Statistical Analysis of the Surface Roughness on Aircraft Icing

Abstract

A statistical analysis of the surface roughness is performed on experimentally obtained ice shapes on an asymmetrical airfoil at Rec≈2⋅106. The ice shapes were generated in the Icing Wind Tunnel of the Technical University of Braunschweig under Appendix C and O conditions of the EASA airplane certification standards as part of the ICE GENESIS project. The photogrammetry method is used for the digitization of the experimental ice shapes, while statistical parameters such as the mean ice shape and the local root mean square (RMS) of the ice geometry are extracted using a traditional surface projection method, as well as a self-organizing maps approach. Results show the evolution of the statistical parameters over time and the influence of the freestream static temperature on these parameters. A comparison between the experimental values of the local RMS of the ice geometry and a correlation for roughness prediction is presented, showing a good match with the original formulation of the correlation for cases under Appendix C conditions while having a good match with Appendix O conditions when a temperature correction factor is applied to the formulation. Additionally, results show an almost linear growth of roughness over the whole accretion time.