CFD Analysis and Validation of Automotive Windshield De-Icing Simulation

Simulation of passenger compartment climatic conditions is becoming increasingly important as a complement to wind tunnel and field testing to help achieve improved windshield de-icing performance while reducing vehicle development time and cost. Windshield de-icing simulation involves not only geometric complexity but also interactions between airflow and two modes of heat transfer, namely, heat conduction and convection. In the present study, CFD is employed to numerically simulate windshield de-icing performance. The general-purpose CFD package Fluent is used to perform the numerical simulation. Two CFD analysis methodologies, windshield de-icing pattern analysis and windshield de-icing process analysis, are discussed. The validation is presented by comparing the CFD predicted windshield de-icing patterns with windshield de-icing tunnel test. The present full 3-D CFD windshield de-icing simulations demonstrated reasonable agreement with available tunnel test data. These two de-icing analysis methodologies allow for the exploration of different de-icing strategies in a quick and inexpensive manner.