Mechanism study of coupled aerodynamic and thermal effects using plasma actuation for anti-icing

Abstract

Anti-icing performance using the surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator is studied using detailed visualization and surface thermal measurements. To reveal the physical mechanism of coupled aerodynamic and thermal effects on anti-icing, three types of actuators are designed and mounted on a NACA 0012 airfoil. The coupled aerodynamic and thermal effects are confirmed in still air. The results show that the plasma actuation is effective for in-flight anti-icing, and the anti-icing performance is directly related to the design of the plasma actuators based on the coupled aerodynamic and thermal effects. When the direction of plasma induced flow is consistent with the incoming flow, the heat generated by plasma discharge is concentrated in the region of the actuator and the ability of the actuator for heat transfer downstream is relatively weak during the anti-icing. When the induced flow is opposite to the incoming flow, there is less heat accumulation in the actuator region, while the ability of heat transfer downstream becomes stronger. With the consistent and opposite direction of induced flow, the plasma actuation can ensure that 57% and 81% chord of the lower surface of the airfoil are free of the ice accumulation, respectively. Another actuator is designed to induce the air jets approximately perpendicular to the airfoil surface. This exhibits both a stronger ability of heat accumulation locally and heat transfer downstream and hence ensures that there is no ice on the entire lower surface of the airfoil.

An experimental study of icing physics and anti/de-icing techniques for structural cables

“…A drop in applied voltage was also observed with the ice accretion. Similar effect have been previously reported by [47]. So, the effective power consumption during the process is about 200 W on a long duration basis.…”

An Experimental Investigation on the Thermodynamic Characteristics of DBD Plasma Actuations for Aircraft Icing Mitigation

“…Since DBD plasma actuation has been found to induce significant surface heating effects along with the ionic wind generation [30,31], DBD plasma actuators can also be used promising candidates for aircraft icing mitigation. By leveraging icing research tunnels to generate icing conditions to simulate the dynamic ice accretion process over airfoil/wing surfaces, a series of experimental studies were conducted recently to demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing the plasma-induced thermal effects to suppress dynamic ice accretion process over the surfaces of airfoil/wing models for aircraft icing mitigation [29,[35][36][37][38][39].…”

Investigation on Supersonic Flow Control Using Nanosecond Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuators

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