Development of a 3D Eulerian/Lagrangian Aircraft Icing Simulation Solver Based on OpenFOAM

Abstract

A 3D icing simulation code is developed in the open-source CFD toolbox OpenFOAM. A hybrid Cartesian/body-fitted meshing method is used to generate high-quality meshes around complex ice shapes. Steady-state 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved to provide the ensemble-averaged flow around the airfoil. Considering the multi-scale nature of droplet size distribution, and more importantly, to represent the less uniform nature of the Super-cooled Large Droplets (SLD), two droplet tracking methods are realized: the Eulerian method is used to track the small-size droplets (below 50 μm) for the sake of efficiency; the Lagrangian method with random sampling is used to track the large droplets (above 50 μm); the heat transfer of the surface overflow is solved on a virtual surface mesh; the ice accumulation is estimated via the Myers model; finally, the final ice shape is predicted by time marching. Limited by the availability of experimental data, validations are performed on 3D simulations of 2D geometries using the Eulerian and Lagrangian methods, respectively. The code proves to be feasible and accurate enough in predicting ice shapes. Finally, an icing simulation result of the M6 wing is presented to illustrate the full 3D capability.

Influence of Spinner Shape on Droplet Impact over Rotating Spinners

“…In a micro-element, the water collection coefficient β, which characterizes the amount of collected water, is the ratio between the mass flux impinging on the surface and the mass flux in freestream. In the rotating coordinate system β is expressed as [30]:…”

Adaptive Control Design for Euler–Lagrange Systems Using Fixed-Time Fractional Integral Sliding Mode Scheme

“…In recent years, there has been an increased level of interest in the study of Euler-Lagrange systems. Generally, Euler-Lagrange systems are representations of a variety of real-world practical systems, such as mobile robot platforms [1,2], helicopter [3,4], oscillatory systems [5], aircraft [6,7], pneumatic muscles [8], bipedal robots [9], robotic manipulators [10], cranes [11], spacecraft [12], etc. These technologies have enormous potential uses in a variety of fields, including military operations, the automation industry, surveillance, and space exploration.…”

Trajectory Tracking Control of Euler–Lagrange Systems Using a Fractional Fixed-Time Method

“…Over the past few years, there has been a rise in the number of people interested in the investigation of Euler-Lagrange systems. In general, Euler-Lagrange systems represent a wide variety of real-world practical systems, such as mobile robot platforms [1], helicopters [2], aircraft [3], pneumatic muscles [4], robotic manipulators [5], exoskeleton or bipedal robots [6,7], cranes [8], spacecraft [9], military, automation sector, monitoring, and even space travel, are just some of the many potential applications for these technologies. The fact that this is a non-linear system with a large degree of mechanical instability means that a high level of control and stability is required for it to function properly.…”