Introducing the iceAccretionFoam solver: impingement and rime ice.

Area of Science:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• Aerospace engineering
• Heat and mass transfer

Background:

• Accurate simulation of ice accretion on airfoils is critical for aviation safety.
• Existing methods require validation for complex icing scenarios.
• The NACA0012 airfoil is a standard benchmark for aerodynamic studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the iceAccretionFoam solver for 2D icing simulations on a NACA0012 airfoil.
• To assess the solver's capability in predicting key icing parameters like collection efficiency and ice shape.
• To investigate the influence of numerical schemes and turbulence models on simulation outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized iceAccretionFoam, built on Foam-extend 5.0, for 2D icing computations.
• Employed incompressible unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for droplet transport and Eulerian droplet flow.
• Incorporated the immersed boundary method to account for ice growth effects.

Main Results:

• The solver accurately estimated pressure coefficient, collection efficiency, and rime ice shape.
• Numerical results demonstrated consistency with NASA experimental data.
• Investigated the impact of various numerical schemes, linear solvers, and turbulence models.

Conclusions:

• iceAccretionFoam is a capable tool for 2D icing simulations, particularly for rime ice accretion.
• The study confirms the solver's potential for use in aviation icing research.
• Findings support the use of validated CFD tools for predicting airfoil icing.