CFD Modeling of Mixed-Phase Icing

Abstract Ice crystal ingestion at high altitude has been reported to be a threat for safe operation of aero-engine in recently. Ice crystals do not accrete on external surface because of cold environment. But when they enter the core flow of aero-engine, ice crystals melt partially into droplets due to higher temperature. Air-droplets-ice crystal is the mixed-phase, which will give rise to ice accretion on static and rotating components in compressor. Subsequently, compressor surge and engine shutdowns may occur. To provide a numerical tool to analyze this in detail, a numerical method was developed in this study. The mixed phase flow was solved using Eulerian–Lagrangian method. The dispersed phase was represented by one-way coupling. A thermodynamic model that considers mass and energy balance with ice crystals and droplets was presented as well. The icing code was implemented by the user-defined function of Fluent. The method of ice accretion under mixed-phase conditions was validated by comparing the results simulated on a cylinder with experimental data derived from literature. The predicted ice shape and mass agree with these data, thereby confirming the validity of the numerical method developed in this research for mixed-phase conditions.