Numerical and experimental investigation of multifunctional high-efficiency anti-icing nickel-plated carbon fiber heating elements for wing-shaped composite airfoils

Abstract

This study introduces wing-shaped composite airfoils integrated with high-efficiency, multifunctional anti-icing heating elements composed of nickel-plated carbon fiber. The anti-icing performance of these airfoils was evaluated through experiments conducted in an Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) under representative glaze icing conditions. These results indicate that the nickel-plated carbon fiber exhibits an electrothermal conversion efficiency of 0.1 W/℃ and a heating rate of 0.64 ℃/s. In particular, icing wind tunnel tests conducted at a power density of 9.0 kW/m² demonstrated that the heating zone remained above the freezing point, thereby preventing ice accretion, while runback ice formed in the region c orresponding to X/C ≈ 24–32 % during a 300 s accretion period. The experimental results demonstrated high reliability and accuracy, showing a temperature difference of <0.5 °C compared to the surface temperature predicted by the multiphysics anti-icing simulation under identical conditions. © 2025 Elsevier Masson SAS