Electrothermal Ice Protection Systems De-Icing: An Experimentally Validated Idealized Ice Shedding Model

The increased use of electrothermal ice protection systems (ETIPSs) in various industries (manned and unmanned aviation, energy production) requires improvements to de-icing efficiency, ice shedding predictability, and energy consumption. To achieve these, a coupled numerical and experimental investigation of ETIPS's ice removal (ice shedding) mechanism is presented in this paper. Idealized ETIPS de-icing experiments performed in the icing wind tunnel of the von Karman Institute show several ice shedding mechanisms. A one-dimensional phase change solver developed for ice melting simulations highlights the water layer thickness influence over the ice shedding process. Coupled numerical-experimental results are employed to develop an idealized ice shedding model. The model is validated in realistic de-icing experiments in a second experimental campaign in the icing wind tunnel of the LeClerc Icing Research Laboratory.