Experimental investigation of simulated large-droplet ice shapes on airfoil aerodynamics

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the aerodynamic effect of simulated supercooled large-droplet ice accretion on a modified NACA 23012 airfoil, Forward-facing quarter-round simulations with height-to-chord ratios of 0.0083 and 0.0139 were used at a Reynolds number of 1.8 x 10(6). When the simulated ice,vas placed at critical chordwise locations, a long separation bubble formed downstream of the simulated ice shape and effectively eliminated the formation of a large leading-edge suction peak that was observed on the clean NACA 23012 airfoil, This resulted in a dramatic reduction in the maximum lift coefficient, as low as 0.27, when the larger simulated ice shape was located at 12% chord, Because the airfoil loading distribution was severely altered, large changes in airfoil pitching moments and flap-hinge moments were also observed.