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An enthalpy-based model for the physics of ice-crystal icing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2024

Timothy Peters
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Josh Shelton
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9SS, UK
Hui Tang*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Philippe H. Trinh*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
*
Email addresses for correspondence: h.tang2@bath.ac.uk, p.trinh@bath.ac.uk
Email addresses for correspondence: h.tang2@bath.ac.uk, p.trinh@bath.ac.uk

Abstract

Ice-crystal icing (ICI) in aircraft engines is a major threat to flight safety. Due to the complex thermodynamic and phase-change conditions involved in ICI, rigorous modelling of the accretion process remains limited. The present study proposes a novel modelling approach based on the physically observed mixed-phase nature of the accretion layers. The mathematical model, which is derived from the enthalpy change after accretion (the enthalpy model), is compared with an existing pure-phase layer model (the three-layer model). Scaling laws and asymptotic solutions are developed for both models. The onset of ice accretion, the icing layer thickness and solid ice fraction within the layer are determined by a set of non-dimensional parameters including the Péclet number, the Stefan number, the Biot number, the melt ratio and the evaporative rate. Thresholds for freezing and non-freezing conditions are developed. The asymptotic solutions present good agreement with numerical solutions at low Péclet numbers. Both the asymptotic and numerical solutions show that, when compared with the three-layer model, the enthalpy model presents a thicker icing layer and a thicker water layer above the substrate due to mixed-phased features and modified Stefan conditions. Modelling in terms of the enthalpy poses significant advantages in the development of numerical methods to complex three-dimensional geometrical and flow configurations. These results improve understanding of the accretion process and provide a novel, rigorous mathematical framework for accurate modelling of ICI.

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.
Figure 0

Table 1. A selection of different formulations used for modelling ICI in engines. We introduce the following notation to refer to the substratum (substr.): FT (freezing temperature), C (coupling between the accretion and substratum), P (prescribed heat flux or temperature) and U (unspecified).

Figure 1

Figure 1. Schematic of the accretion composition for incoming mass flux on a warm substrate as described by the enthalpy model in § 3. This consists of a thin water layer on the substrate, with a mixed-phase water/ice (mush) composition on top.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Form of icing captured in the original Messinger model, as depicted in Myers (2001).

Figure 3

Table 2. Typical values of dimensional quantities under engine representative conditions, as used in the existing literature. Note that some estimates given in the references are more specified and single valued. Others are variable under variable engine or flow conditions.

Figure 4

Figure 3. Schematic of the two stages in the three-layer model of ICI as developed in Bucknell et al. (2019a). Initially, (a) in stage 1, there is only a water film; then in (b) stage 2, an water–ice–water layer is used.

Figure 5

Figure 4. Plot of $T$ vs $\varPhi _i(T)$ for $i=\text {I}$ (§ 2.2), $\text {II}$ (§ 2.3).

Figure 6

Figure 5. Plot of $E$ vs $\varPhi _{E}$ as described in § 3.1. Note that these quantities are non-dimensional, and the parameter values are taken from table 3 (${St}=1.618$, $Pe=0.185$, $T_{subs}=10$, ${Bi}=0.070$, $L=6.711$, $M_{r} = 0.2$ and $D=0.028$).

Figure 7

Figure 6. A typical solution profile for the enthalpy, $E(z,t)$, is shown at $t=0.8$ in $(a)$ and $t=5$ in $(b)$. The solution in $(a)$, with $E>{St}/Pe$ corresponds to a pure water layer. The solution in $(b)$ contains both a pure water layer for $0 \leq z < 2.7$, and a mixed-phase region for $2.7 \leq z \leq h_{total}$. In $(b)$, there is a thin transition region about $z=2.7$ in which the proportion of ice particles in the mixed-phase layer varies from 0 % to 75 %. This numerical simulation used the method outlined in Appendix A, with parameter values ${St}=1.618$, $Pe=0.185$, $T_{subs}=10$, ${Bi}=0.070$, $L=6.711$, $M_{r} = 0.2$ and $D=0.028$. A value of $N=400$ grid points was used for simulations.

Figure 8

Table 3. Non-dimensional parameters in the ICI models and their typical values used in this work. *Note that $\beta$ is found as a solution based on the other parameter values according to (3.8).

Figure 9

Figure 7. The critical curve separating freezing from non-freezing conditions as measured via (4.2). The solid line corresponds to the baseline conditions given in table 3 discussed in § 4. The upper dashed line modifies $M_{r} = 0.1$ from baseline, thus decreasing the melt ratio. The lower dashed line modifies $RH = 0.65$ from baseline, thus increasing the relative humidity, and decreasing the evaporative flux. The critical lines rotate anticlockwise for increasing evaporative flux, decreasing melt ratio or decreasing kinetic ratio. The black and white circles denote parameter values used in figure 11, which consist of our baseline Stefan number, along with two other values, denoted ${St}_1$ and ${St}_2$, respectively.

Figure 10

Figure 8. Typical evolution of the different heights for the two models using the baseline parameters as in table 3. Solid lines are the full numerical prediction, dotted and dashed are the $O(Pe^0)$ and $O(Pe^1)$ solutions respectively for the $(a)$ three-layer model (5.29); and $(b)$ enthalpy model (5.36).

Figure 11

Figure 9. The same numerical experiment as in figure 8 but now with the Péclet number 20 times the baseline value, $Pe = 3.69$. We show $(a)$ the three-layer model; and $(b)$ the enthalpy model. The two-term asymptotic approximation, valid as $Pe \to 0$, is shown dashed, while the leading order is shown dotted.

Figure 12

Figure 10. Plot of the numerical (solid lines), leading order (dot-dash lines) and two-term approximation (dashed lines) for various heights at $t=5$ vs the Péclet number, using the baseline parameters. The heights depicted are the $(a)$ Three-layer inner water; $(b)$ three-layer ice; $(c)$ enthalpy inner water; $(d)$ enthalpy mush.

Figure 13

Figure 11. $(a)$ Log–log plot of $Pe$ vs $t^*$. Solid lines give full numerical solutions while dashed lines is the leading-order asymptotic prediction from setting $T_0 = 0$ where we have $T_0$ from (5.10), and we solve for $h_0^*$ (5.12b) and $t_0^*$ (5.12a) The scaling is also confirmed to be $t^* = O(1/Pe)$ for large $Pe$ which is shown by the dash-dotted line. $(b)$ Log–log plot of $Pe$ vs $t^*-t_0^{*}$. Solid lines give full numerical solutions, while dashed lines are the first-order correction $t_1^{*}$. We calculate $t_1^{*}$ from (5.11). Both use the baseline parameters found in table 3 but adjust the Péclet and Stefan numbers. We sweep the Péclet number over three values of the Stefan number: our baseline value of ${St}=1.68$ along with ${St}_1=0.5$ and ${St}_2=5$, which were used previously in figure 7.

Figure 14

Table 4. Variation of the Biot number – ${Bi}$, and melt ratio – $M_{r}$, to typical minimum and maximum values, examining critical height, $h^*$ and time, $t^*$, for freezing to occur, as well as the height of the internal water and ice at a representative time, $t=5$. Note that, in the case of the enthalpy model, we have extracted the ice component from the mush height as described in (3.9). Other parameters are at the baseline value given in table 3. Note that ${Bi}=1.138 < {Bi}_{crit}$ (4.2) for the baseline conditions and thus freezing would eventually occur.

Figure 15

Table 5. Coefficients from Wexler et al. (1983) used to calculate vapour saturation pressure in (B2).