An adaptive approach for modelling ice accretion on aircraft

In the conventional ice accretion models, the thickness (Bg) and time (tg), at which the glaze ice appears for the first time, are predicted based on the thermodynamic calculations. Then, these values are taken as critical transient criteria to apply either the rime ice or the glaze ice calculations at each time step. In the proposed ice accretion model presented in this study, the calculations of the ice accretion are initiated with the rime ice. If the results are plausible they are accepted, otherwise, the glaze ice calculation is applied. The strength of this approach is that it enables the course of numerical computations of the icing process to proceed in the same way as the real physics of the icing phenomenon. The results of the present study show that the proposed ice accretion approach for all rime, mixed, and glaze ice-regimes gives more accurate results than the conventional ice accretion models.