Development of a phase Doppler based probe for icing cloud droplet characterization

Abstract

The development and evaluation of a compact optical fiber probe (OFP) for airborne and wind tunnel icing cloud characterizations is described. This probe was based upon the proven phase Doppler technique for measuring the size and velocity of spherical drops. Direct comparisons of the size distributions from the standard PDPA with the OFP were used to confirm the reliability of the probe. After some improvements in the fiber coupling efficiency, the number density and liquid water content data agreed to within 15 percent.