RANS Simulations of Airfoils with Ice Shapes

Jianping Pan, Eric Loth, and Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801


ABSTRACT
Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of simulated ridge ice shapes and leading-edge ice shapes on the aerodynamic performance of airfoils and wings. A range of Reynolds numbers and Mach numbers, as well as ice-shape sizes and ice-shape locations were examined for the NACA 23012 airfoil, the NLF 0414 airfoil and the NACA 3415 airfoil. The results were compared to experiments completed recently at the NASA Langley Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel (LTPT) and the University of Illinois Low-Speed Wind Tunnel. Additionally, the LTHS (Large Transport Horizontal Stabilizer) airfoil, the BJMW (Business Jet Main Wing) airfoil, and a tapered NACA 23012 wing were also studied to investigate ice-shape location effect with various airfoils and wing geometries. The RANS investigation included steady-state simulations with the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and a structured grid. Comparisons with experimental force data showed favorable comparison up to (but not including) the stall conditions, with improved fidelity for forward and smaller ice shapes. At and past stall condition, strong separation occurs and the aerodynamic forces are not predicted accurately for large upper-surface ice shapes due to the limitation of RANS method. A lift-break (pseudo-stall) condition was defined based on the lift curve slope change. The lift-break data compared well with experimental stall results, and indicated that the upper surface critical ice-shape location tended to be near (and often in between) the location of minimum pressure and the location of the most adverse pressure gradient.





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