Computational simulation of in-flight ice accretion on superhydrophobic surfaces of airfoils considering wettability effects

초록

Aircraft in-flight icing poses a serious threat to flight safety, making the development of efficient and sustainable ice protection systems essential. Superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) offer a promising passive anti-icing approach, particularly for next-generation electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft, which often operate under strict energy constraints. However, existing ice accretion models cannot capture the anti-icing performance of SHSs because they neglect the effects of surface wettability on droplet-wall interactions and water film dynamics. This study presents a computational framework for simulating ice accretion on superhydrophobic airfoil surfaces. To this end, a semi-empirical model is developed that incorporates the effects of surface wettability and water supercooling into droplet-wall interactions, thereby refining the prediction of collection efficiency obtained from droplet solvers. Furthermore, the shallow water icing model is reformulated with a Navier-slip boundary condition at the water-film/SHS interface to accurately capture the slip effects induced by wettability on film dynamics. Numerical simulations showed that surface wettability influences the ice accretion regime under in-flight icing conditions. Increasing the contact angle reduces collection efficiency and water deposition, resulting in a transition from glaze to mixed and ultimately rime ice formation. The proposed solver provides a practical foundation for next-generation icing simulations that account for surface wettability effects. With limited calibration against experimental data, the solver is well-suited for engineering tasks such as assessing the effectiveness of SHS coatings, supporting design-oriented sizing studies, and aiding the development of hybrid electrothermal-SHS ice protection systems.

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