Effect of Airfoil Geometry on Performance with Simulated Intercycle Ice Accretions

This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to evaluate the performance effects of intercycle ice accretions on airfoils with different geometries. The intercycle ice accretions were simulated using combinations of various size grit roughness. These simulations were tested on three airfoils: NACA 23012, NACA 3415, and NLF 0414 at a Reynolds number of 1.8 × × 10 6 and a Mach number of 0.18. Results from the NACA 23012 airfoil tests closely matched those from a previous study, validating the ice-shape simulation method. This also showed that a simple geometric (chord-based) scaling of the ice was appropriate. The simulated ice effect, in terms of maximum lift performance, was most severe for the NACA 23012 airfoil. The maximum lift coefficients were in the range of 0.65 to 0.80 for the iced configuration compared to a clean value of 1.47 for the NACA 23012 airfoil at this Reynolds number. In contrast, the maximum lift coefficients for the NLF 0414 airfoil with the same ice simulations were in the range of 0.90 to 1.05, compared to a clean value of 1.34. The results for the NACA 3415 with the simulated intercycle ice shapes were between the other two airfoils.