Numerical analysis of ice accretion effects at super-cooled large droplet conditions on airfoil aerodynamics

Changes in flow field around NACA23012 airfoil from a clean condition to a super-cooled large droplet (SLD) condition were simulated, and variations in aerodynamic parameters were calculated using FLUENT. In the case of numerical simulation for a clean airfoil, flow field characteristics simulated agreed well with theory analysis, indicating that turbulence models and parameters setting are feasible. Aerodynamic parameters for iced airfoil were calculated using the same method and agreed with those measured test data under the same environment in icing wind tunnels by S. Lee. Conclusion is made that the numerical simulation is valid, and it can be an alternative to study ice accretion effects at the SLD condition on airfoil aerodynamics, leading to reduction in research cycle time and cost.