In-flight ice accretion is a critical challenge in aeronautical engineering, as supercooled liquid droplets in the atmosphere can impact aircraft surfaces and freeze, leading to the formation of irregular ice structures. These structures can severely degrade aerodynamic performance and compromise flight safety. Accurate prediction and analysis of this phenomenon are therefore essential.
The LESSICE project addresses this challenge by integrating high-fidelity computational methodologies across multiple physical and spatial scales. The simulation of ice accretion involves a complex interplay of aerodynamics, thermodynamics, and phase-change physics. Specifically, the project focuses on three key aspects:
Aerodynamic Flow Analysis: Modeling airflow around complex geometries of the aircraft to capture the local flow fields influencing droplet trajectories.
Droplet Dynamics: Simulating the motion and impact of water droplets on aircraft surfaces, which is critical for determining where and how ice begins to form.
Thermodynamic Modeling: Investigating the thermal behavior of water films and phase transition processes, including heat exchange between the fluid and the aircraft structure.
The project’s central innovation lies in the use of high-fidelity Large Eddy Simulation (LES) techniques, which offer enhanced resolution of turbulent flow phenomena associated with ice formation. Furthermore, it aims to streamline the creation of computational grids for complex geometries, minimizing the need for manual intervention and thus improving simulation efficiency and scalability.
By improving numerical modeling techniques and deepening the understanding of ice accretion physics, LESSICE seeks to provide robust tools for predicting the impacts of icing on critical aircraft surfaces. Ultimately, this will contribute to the development of more effective design strategies and operational protocols to enhance flight safety in icing conditions.
The LESSICE project is financed by the European Union and ICSC (Italian Research Center on High-Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing.
