A parametric study on the effect of liquid water content and droplet median volume diameter on the ice distribution and anti-icing heat estimation of a wind turbine airfoil

Abstract

This study uses an icing model, combining heat transfer with fluid flow and considering the roughness effect, to investigate the influence of liquid water content (LWC) and droplet median volume diameter (MVD) on the ice distribution and anti-icing heat estimation of a wind turbine blade airfoil through the numerical approach. The findings indicate that the simulated ice distribution can have excellent agreement with experimental data. Owing to variations of droplet collection efficiency and heat flux, the increase in LWC and MVD will amplify the fluctuations in ice accretion distribution, which will be prone to ice horns. Owing to high LWC increasing water film flow range, the jumping point of anti-icing heat flux is closer to the trailing edge. Owing to large MVD increasing droplet collection efficiency, the quantity of ice accumulation through solidification ascends to demand higher anti-icing heat flux. The peak anti-icing heat flux is more evidently influenced by LWC than that by MVD, due to the variations in heat flux, induced by water film evaporation and solidification. The findings offer valuable insights into the flow and heat transfer physics for wind turbine anti/de-icing design.

Keywords

• Wind turbine blade
• Liquid water content
• Droplet median volume diameter
• Ice distribution
• anti-Icing heat estimation