Effect of Intercycle Ice Accretions on Airfoil Performance
Andy P. Broeren and Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801
and
Harold E. Addy Jr.
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, Ohio 44135
ABSTRACT
Results are presented of an experimental study designed to characterize and evaluate the aerodynamic performance penalties of residual and intercycle ice accretions that result from the cyclic operation of a typical aircraft
deicing system. Icing wind-tunnel tests were carried out on a 36-in. chord NACA 23012 airfoil section equipped
with a pneumatic deicer for several different Federal Air Regulation 25 Appendix C cloud conditions. Results from
the icing tests showed that the intercycle ice accretions were much more severe in terms of size and shape than
the residual ice accretions. Molds of selected intercycle ice shapes were made and converted to castings that were
attached to the leading edge of a 36-in. chord NACA 23012 airfoil model for aerodynamic testing. The aerodynamic
testing revealed that the intercycle ice shapes caused a significant performance degradation. Maximum lift coefficients
were typically reduced about 60% from 1.8 (clean) to 0.7 (iced) and stall angles were reduced from 17 deg
(clean) to 9 deg (iced). Changes in the Reynolds number (from 2.0 × 106 to 10.5 × 106) and Mach number (from
0.10 to 0.28) did not significantly affect the iced-airfoil performance.