Assessment of the PoliMIce Toolkit from the 1st AIAA Ice Prediction Workshop

This paper presents the Politecnico di Milano Icing Research Group’s contribution to the 1st AIAA Ice Prediction Workshop. A collection of two-and three-dimensional test cases to predict the collection efficiency and ice accretion are simulated using the PoliMIce ice accretion software suite. Test cases include the prediction of the collection efficiency on a three-element-airfoil and on a full-scale horizontal swept tail plane. Additionally, test cases for the simulation of ice shapes on a NACA23012 airfoil and on swept wings with varying degrees of sweep angle are assessed. The numerical predictions are evaluated and compared to high quality experimental measurements taken from the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel. In general the numerical predictions compare favourably with the experimental measurements. Key droplet impingement characteristics including the collection efficiency peak and impingement limits are captured. Meanwhile distinctive ice features of rime and glaze ice regimes are depicted in the simulations. However, there remains scope for further improvement of models as highlighted by the more challenging test cases such as the three-element-airfoil and the test cases which produce glaze ice shapes with large horns.