Design Optimization of Multi-element Airfoil Shapes to Minimize Ice Accretion

Abstract

Ice accretion on the aircraft components, such as wings, fuselage, and empennage, can occur when the aircraft encounters a cloud zone with high humidity and low temperature. The prevention of ice accretion is important because it causes a decrease in the aerodynamic performance and flight stability, thus leading to fatal safety problems. In this study, a shape design optimization of a multi-element airfoil is performed to minimize the amount of ice accretion on the high-lift device including leading-edge slat, main element, and trailing-edge flap. The design optimization framework proposed in this paper consists of four major parts: air flow, droplet impingement and ice accretion simulations and gradient-free optimization algorithm. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation is used to predict the aerodynamic performance and flow field around the multi-element airfoil at the angle of attack 8 degrees. Droplet impingement and ice accretion simulations are conducted using the multi-physics computational analysis tool. The objective function is to minimize the total mass of ice accretion and the design variables are the deflection angle, gap, and overhang of the flap and slat. Kriging surrogate model is used to construct the response surface, providing rapid approximations of time-consuming function evaluation, and genetic algorithm is employed to find the optimal solution. As a result of optimization, the total mass of ice accretion on the optimized multi-element airfoil is reduced by about 8% compared to the baseline configuration.