Additional Investigations of Ice Shape Sensitivity to Parameter Variations

Abstract

A second parameter sensitivity study was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) using a 36 in. chord (0.91 m) NACA-0012 airfoil. The objective of this work was to further investigate the feasibility of using ice shape feature changes to define requirements for the simulation and measurement of SLD and appendix C icing conditions. A previous study concluded that it was feasible to use changes in ice shape features (e.g., ice horn angle, ice horn thickness, and ice shape mass) to detect relatively small variations in icing spray condition parameters (LWC, MVD, and temperature). The subject of this current investigation extends the scope of this previous work, by also examining the effect of icing tunnel spray-bar parameter variations (water pressure, air pressure) on ice shape feature changes. The approach was to vary spray-bar water pressure and air pressure, and then evaluate the effects of these parameter changes on the resulting ice shapes. This paper will provide a description of the experimental method, present selected experimental results, and conclude with an evaluation of these results.