Numerical simulation of ice shedding from civil airplane nose

The shedding ice blocks from a civil airplane nose seriously threat the safety of the civil airplane, and as result it is very important to thoroughly investigate the shedding characteristics. A numerical simulation method of ice shedding was proposed to simulate the trajectories of the shedding ice blocks from airplane nose by establishing the force and moment database of the shedding ice blocks using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) tool, and solving the six degree-of-freedom equations numerically, the effect of engine power was also considered. Employing this method, the trajectories of the shedding ice from a civil airplane nose with aft-mounted engines were simulated, the effect of angle of attack of airplane on the trajectories of shedding ice were studied, the relationship among the velocity, the trajectories of the shedding ice and the probability of shedding ice blocks ingested into the engines was analyzed. The research work is of help for the design of engine ingestion ability, the compliance work of nose ice shedding and the nature icing flight test of the civil aircraft.