FENSAP-ICE Applications to Complete Rotorcraft Configurations

The FENSAP-ICE system was first conceived for fixed-wing aircraft and air induction system icing, but major developments are underway to augment its capabilities for icing simulation of rotorcraft and tiltrotor aircraft. A project is underway, under the auspices of the RITA (Rotorcraft Industry Technology Association) to reduce icing certification flight tests through use of second-generation three-dimensional (3D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based technologies. The plan is to supplement traditional icing tunnel and flight-testing with modern 3D inflight icing simulation tools that facilitate the development and certification of all-weather operations rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft. A viscous fully 3D ice accretion and runback modeling capability is being developed and initial correlation studies to both 2D and 3D icing test cases have produced very good results. An actuator disk model has also been developed to account for the effects of the main and tail rotors on the flow field and the subsequent changes to ice accretion patterns. The present paper will describe droplet impingement and ice accretion results in terms of increasing geometrical complexity from 2D trimmed airfoil sections, to full 3D tiltrotor aircraft in forward flight, with propellers modeled.