An Experimental Investigation of Simulated Large-Droplet Ice shapes on Airfoil Aerodynamics

James W. Melody, Devesh Pokhariyal, Jason Merret, Tamer Basar, William R. Perkins, Michael B. Bragg
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801


ABSTRACT
An experimental investigation was conducted to study the aerodynamic effect of simulated super-cooled large-droplet ice accretion on a modified NACA 23012 airfoil. Forward-facing quarter-round simulations with height to chord ratio of 0.0083 and 0.0139 were used at a Reynolds number of 1.8 million. When placed at critical chordwise locations, a long separation bubble formed downstream of the simulated ice shape and effectively eliminated the formation of a large leading-edge suction peak that was observed on the clean NACA 23012 airfoil. This resulted in a dramatic reduction in the maximum lift coefficient, as low as 0.27, when the larger simulated ice shape was located at 12% chord. Because the airfoil loading distribution was severely altered, large changes in airfoil pitching moments and flap hinge moments were also observed.





Full text version in pdf format.