Rotor Ice Shedding and Trajectory Analyses in Forward Flight

摘要

Ice accretion on aerodynamic surfaces can lead to a decrease in stall angle, an increase in drag and damage from shed-ice. These conditions have resulted in incidents and sometimes fatal accidents over the years. In rotorcraft, the high centrifugal forces on the rotor may serve as a natural deicing mechanism but can lead to uneven ice shedding, causing rotor imbalances and vibrations. Ice shedding from a rotor blade can also result in ice hitting other blades, the fuselage or tail rotor. Numerical methods are an important tool in predicting in-flight ice formation and is a vital tool in the design of Ice Protection Systems (IPS). The goal of this paper is to develop a computationally inexpensive approach to determine ice shedding time and location and analyze the possible impact zones for a helicopter in forward flight.