Study of a Swept Wing with Leading-Edge Ice Using a Wake Survey Technique

Jeffery M. Diebold and Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801

ABSTRACT
The aerodynamics of swept wings with leading-edge ice is very complex and not fully understood. Previous swept wing icing studies have only provided force balance measurements and/or qualitative flow visualization. In order to more fully understand the complex aerodynamics it is necessary to understand how the ice influences the drag breakdown and the spanwise distributions of lift and drag. This paper utilizes 5-hole probe wake surveys and a far-field analysis to decompose the drag into profile and induced drag components and to determine the spanwise distributions of lift and drag. It is shown that the leading-edge ice primarily influences the profile drag and the induced drag is relatively unaltered. Features observed in the lift and drag distributions are related to features seen in the wake as well as in surface oil flow visualization.






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