Icing Simulation
In-flight icing is a safety-critical aspect of aircraft design, yet it is a highly complex physical phenomenon that is extremely difficult to replicate using expensive physical tests. Recent regulatory changes and industry focus on the particular hazards presented by high altitude ice crystals and supercooled large droplets (SLD) have further challenged the design process and the time to market for new aircraft and technology.
Commercial aircraft cruise at altitudes where adverse meteorological phenomena such as icing clouds are rare and can generally be avoided. But during take-off and landing, they may not be able to avoid crossing atmospheric layers where adverse flight conditions may be encountered at the worst possible time: at low speeds and high angles of attack, when even small amounts of ice build-up can radically degrade the carefully optimized aerodynamic performance of wings and control surfaces. Commercial aircraft are therefore fitted with ice protection systems and must be certified to fly safely in known icing conditions.
FENSAP-ICE provides leading three-dimensional, state-of-the-art, design and aid-to-certification simulation software to provide enhanced aerodynamic and in-flight icing protection solutions in a cost-effective manner by addressing all five major aspects of in-flight icing:
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Airflow
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Droplet and ice crystal impingement
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Ice accretion
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Aerodynamic degradation
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Anti- and de-icing heat loads
FENSAP-ICE is compatible with widely-used CAD-based mesh generators so it can often reuse the meshes already produced for aerodynamic studies. Having no significant geometric limitations, it is applicable to aircraft, rotorcraft, UAVs, jet engines, nacelles, probes, detectors and other installed systems. OptiGrid is an anisotropic mesh optimization tool that is included to easily obtain high quality mesh- and user-independent results.
