Effect of simulated ice geometry on airfoil aerodynamics
Author
Thiago Borges Oliveira Silva
Advisor
- Advisor Roberto Gil Annes da Silva
Concentration Area
Projeto Aeronáutico, Estruturas e Sistemas Aeroespaciais
Defense Date
11/07/2023
Thesis Number
79233
Abstract
It is well-known that ice accretion can adversely impact the aerodynamic performance of airfoils and wings. In this work, we conducted an experimental investigation on the impact of different ice shapes on the flow around airfoils. The NACA 23012 and the GLC-305 airfoils were tested at a low-reynolds wind tunnel, where forces, moments and surface pressure were measured for obtaining an understanding of flow field generated by each ice geometry. The studied ice type was a simulated single horn based on the glaze ice accreted on the airfoil leading edge, with different heights and chord position. The parametric approach was applied in order to vary the ice geometric characteristics. Evaluation was performed with the ice shape extruded throughout the entire span of the airfoil. The objective of this research was to evaluate the aerodynamics performance deterioration of the studied airfoils subjected to the ice shapes, and validate that the low-reynolds testing results in the range of 150,000 to 280,000 can be useful when the impact of ice formation at higher reynolds numbers are desired. In addition to that, the measure of the flow pressure at the airfoil trailing edge was executed in order to create a quantitative identification of the stall condition based on that measure.
