Investigation of Factors Affecting
Iced-Airfoil Aerodynamics
Sam Lee and Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801
ABSTRACT
A summary of the effects the ice-accretion
geometry, size, and location; the airfoil geometry; and the flight Reynolds
number on iced-airfoil aerodynamics, based on the findings of the recent University
of Illinois investigations, is presented. Four airfoils were tested with
simulated glaze-ice horn and spanwise ridge ice. Increasing the ice-shape
height generally resulted in more severe performance degradation. The exception
was when the ice shape was located at the leading edge of the airfoil, where
increased ice-shape height did not significantly degrade performance. Varying
the leading-edge radius of glaze-ice horn did not have a large effect on airfoil
performance. The variations in the geometry of the simulated ridge ice had
some effect on airfoil aerodynamics, with (of the shapes tested) the half-round
shape having a significantly higher maximum lift. Iced-airfoil aerodynamics
were relatively insensitive to Reynolds number variations. Large differences
in iced-airfoil aerodynamics were observed between different airfoil geometries.
The findings showed that an airfoil's sensitivity to ridge-ice accretions
(which usually forms between 10 and 20% chord) was largely dependent on it's
load distribution. The airfoil that was very front-loaded, with large leading-edge
suction, had the most severe performance degradation due to this type of
ice accretion.