Recent Progress on Aircraft/Aero-Engine Icing Physics & Anti-/De-Icing Studies

Abstract Aircraft/Aero-engine icing is widely recognized as a significant weather hazard to aircraft operations in cold climates. The speaker will introduce his recent research on aircraft/aero-engine icing physics and anti-/de-icing. By leveraging the unique Icing Research Tunnel available at Iowa State University (i.e., ISU-IRT), comprehensive experimental investigations are conducted to characterize the important micro-physical processes pertinent to aircraft icing phenomena. A suite of advanced flow diagnostic techniques, including molecular tagging velocimetry and thermometry (MTV&T), particle image velocimetry (PIV), digital image projection (DIP), and high-speed infrared (IR) imaging techniques, are developed and applied to quantify supercooled water droplet impinging dynamics, transient behaviors of wind-driven water runback flows, unsteady heat transfer and dynamic solidification processes over wing /airfoil surfaces. Innovative anti-/de-icing strategies with various “state-of-the-art” hydro-/ice-phobic coatings/surfaces, including a lotus-inspired superhydrophobic surface (SHS) and a pitcher-plant-inspired Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS), are evaluated quantitatively under different icing conditions (i.e., ranged from dry rime icing to wet glaze icing conditions). The recent efforts on studying aero-engine icing due to inhalation of in-cloud ice crystals and developing a novel plasma-based anti-/de-icing strategy will also be introduced to ensure safer and more efficient operation of aircraft/aero-engine in cold climates.

Short Bio

Prof. Hui Hu is the Martin C. Jischke Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University. His research interests include advanced optical/laser-based diagnostics, aircraft/aero-engine icing physics and anti-/de-icing technology; Unmanned-Aerial-Systems (UAS); wind energy and wind turbine aeromechanics; Fluid-Structure Interactions (FSI) of built structures with violent windstorms (e.g., tornadoes, downbursts, and snowstorms). Dr. Hu is an ASME Fellow and AIAA Associate Fellow. He is serving as an editor of “Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science-Elsevier” and an associate editor of “The ASME Journal of Fluid Engineering” and “ASME Open Journal of Engineering”. Further information about Dr. Hu’s technical background and research activities is available at: http://www.aere.iastate.edu/~huhui/