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NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division World-class modeling, simulation, and supercomputing in support of the NASA mission

CFD Methods for Aircraft Icing Analysis

AMS Seminar Series

Speaker: Isik Ozcer, ANSYS Inc.

Presentation

Seminar Slide Deck (PDF-8.7MB)

Abstract

In-flight icing is a phenomenon that poses a threat to aviation safety. It is caused by supercooled droplets and ice crystals in clouds with temperatures below the freezing point of water. These particles that come into contact with aircraft surfaces adhere and accrete in the form of ice, degrading the performance of wings, tails, control surfaces, air speed indicators, etc. Due to the hazardous nature of such aerodynamic penalties, most aircraft are equipped with ice protection systems at various capacities to help them survive icing encounters. The design, sizing, and optimization of these systems require the knowledge of where and how ice will accrete on aircraft under different icing conditions. Some aircraft are required by aviation regulations to fly safely with a certain amount of ice on their aerodynamic surfaces in case of ice protection system failures. This requires reliable prediction of ice shapes and consequent aerodynamic penalties.

In this webinar, Ansys' CFD approach to in-flight icing simulation will be described with highlights on some key physics that influence the ice accretion process. A brief description of the icing process for airframes and engines will be presented, followed by modeling approaches and examples.

Biography

Photo of Isik Ozcer
Isik Ozcer received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering in 2009 from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, where he worked on non-linear sonic boom propagation and sonic boom mitigation through airframe optimization with CFD, incorporating anisotropic error-based mesh adaptation. He joined Newmerical Technologies International (NTI), Montreal, Canada, the same year to develop CFD software for in-flight icing simulations. Upon NTI's acquisition by Ansys in 2015 Isik continued to contribute to the icing simulation technology in addition to working on high speed flows and anisotropic mesh adaption. Currently he is a Principal R&D Engineer at Ansys, leading the icing R&D effort as well as managing the hypersonics CFD development as part of the Turbo-Aero team.