The Effect of Ridge-Ice Location and the Role of Airfoil Geometry
Sam Lee and Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
ABSTRACT
The findings from a recent University of Illinois investigation
on the effect of ridge ice location on airfoil aerodynamics using additional
airfoils are presented. Previous studies involving two airfoils (NACA 23012m
and NLF 0414) showed that the most severe performance penalties were observed
when the simulated ridge ice was located near the adverse pressure recovery
region of the clean model. Two more airfoils (a commuter aircraft wing and
tail sections) were tested and original findings were confirmed. The results
from the commuter airfoils showed that an airfoil's sensitivity to SLD ice
accretion (ridge ice that typically form between 10-20% chord) was dependent
largely on its load distribution. If the airfoil was more front-loaded,
then its performance degradation due to SLD ice accretion tended to be more
severe.