ISSN Online: 2379-1748
ISBN Flash Drive: 978-1-56700-472-4
ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-471-7
3rd Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC)
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF ICE FORMATION ON AN AERONAUTICAL PITOT PROBE
摘要
In this work, the cool-down and ice accumulation on an aeronautic Pitot probe (PP) in case of a heating element
failure was studied experimentally in a climatic wind tunnel (CWT). Through injector nozzles located
in front of the test section, atomized water was introduced into the tunnel in order to simulate the presence
of humidity found in different cloud types. Using high-resolution cameras, the subsequent ice accumulation
along the PP was recorded. The experiment runs were taken out under three different conditions, controlling
the air temperature, flow velocity and liquid water content (LWC) in the test section. The flow conditions in
the CWT have dynamic similarity with those encountered at cruise speeds of common single-engined propeller
aircraft. Analyzing the indicated pressure measured through the PP's pressure ports, it was possible
to correlate the (cone-shaped) ice accumulation on the stagnation pressure port to the measurement error for
one test condition. For the other two test conditions, it was observed that the ice cone's lateral section grew
so fast, that it did not allow the blockage of the stagnation port, keeping it in contact with the atmosphere and
thus performing correctly.