Electromechanical resonant ice protection systems: numerical investigation through a phase-field mixed adhesive/brittle fracture model

Abstract

Electromechanical resonant de-icing systems provide a low-energy solution against ice accumulation on aircraft. Recent researches show a growing interest towards these systems in the context of more electrical aircraft. Electromechanical de-icing systems consists in electric actuators producing stress within the ice, through micro-vibrations of the surface to be protected, leading to bulk or adhesive failure and, ultimately, ice shedding. The understanding of the mechanisms at play is of prime importance in order to design efficient ice protection systems. Despite a large number of studies in the literature, there is still a lack when dealing with fracture propagation phenomena in this context. In this work the authors propose a model based on the well established phase-field variational approach to fracture. The approach is applied to the study of crack propagation and debonding of ice under the effect of an electromechanical resonant de-icing system. Numerical experiments are performed in order to assess possible ice shedding mechanisms.

Improving mechanical ice protection systems with substrate shape optimization

“…In the clamped case, after reaching zero, the criterion values goes up again, but this should not be taken into consideration as it is due to compressive stress. In the case of the computation of the energy release rate, the compression part must not be considered as it does not contribute to propagating the fracture (Marboeuf et al, 2020).…”

“…This means that half of the length of the beam is in traction and the other half is in compression. In order to achieve delamination, the ice needs to be loaded in traction (Marboeuf et al, 2020). Therefore, to increase the delamination area, it is important to extend the traction part and reduce the compression part.…”

“…It is important to consider the structural health of the substrate, however, and therefore the G/σ 2 criterion is used. Once again, the criterion is only studied on the frozen part loaded in traction as the part loaded in compression does not allow fracture propagation (Marboeuf et al, 2020).…”

“…In Shi et al (2020), CZM was introduced to describe the interface behavior of the plate and ice layer. Marboeuf et al proposed a model based on phase-field variational approach to fracture (Marboeuf et al, 2020), showing the advantage of not requiring the a priori knowledge of the fracture propagation path. In Budinger et al (2018), the energy balance approach is used to study ice failure in modal analyses.…”

Electromechanical Resonant Ice Protection Systems: Energetic and Power Considerations

“…The proposed code estimates the locations where fractures are initiated and allows for studying their propagation. This code was extended by Marboeuf et al [18], who studied the choice of input parameters in the model. Sommerwerk and Horst [19] used the cohesive zone model (CZM) to study the fracture propagation inside the ice layer [19].…”