Effects of Ice Accretion on Aircraft Flight
M.B. Bragg, T. Hutchinson, J. Merret, R. Oltman, and D. Pokhariyal
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
ABSTRACT
The effect of ice accretion was modeled on the performance
and control of an aircraft. A simple method was presented to alter the
aircraft stability and control parameters to model the effect of ice accretion.
A six degree-of-freedom computational flight dynamics model was used to
study the effect of the ice accretion on the aircraft dynamics including
the effect of atmospheric turbulence and sensor noise. This study is part
of a larger research program to developsmart icing system technology. The
goal of the study reported here was to develop techniques to sense the
effect of ice accretion on the aircraft performance and control during
quasi-steady-state flight. A simple model to relate ice accretion effects
to icing and flight parameters is proposed. The computational model showed
large changes in V, a, and de
as the ice accretes for a constant power and altitude case. Atmospheric
turbulence and sensor noise are modeled and a filter is shown to remove
most of these effects. Aircraft operated at constant velocity show smaller
effects and aerodynamic sensors are proposed to aid in the characterization
of these cases.