Experimental Study of Influence of Different Parameters on Flow Field Structures Around an Airfoil Covered with Rough Ice

Abstract

Rough ice can change the leading edge of airfoil and affect the aerodynamic characteristics. Studying the influence of rough ice caused by supercooled water droplets can provide reference for anti-icing design of aircrafts. A detailed experimental study was conducted to measure the flow field structure of an airfoil model with rough ice in a low-speed wind tunnel by using particle image velocimetry. The parameters include Reynolds number, roughness of rough ice, and angle of attack. The results show that with the increase of Reynolds number, the range and value of spanwise vorticity at the wake of the airfoil with ice increased, while the normalized Reynolds stress decreased slightly. The presence of rough ice reduced the airflow velocity near the airfoil, increased the vorticity of wake, and seriously affected the shear stress distribution. Compared with the clean airfoil, the rough ice caused the air flow to separate earlier and the velocity in the separation bubble fluctuated more violently.

Keywords

• reynolds number
• supercooled large droplet
• rough ice
• angle of attack
• flow field structure