Computation of aerodynamic performance about a swept wing with simulated rime ice accretion

This paper deals with the computational studies carried out on the aircraft swept wing with and without a simulated 5 minutes rime ice accretion at subsonic Mach number conditions. The aerodynamic performances changes of lift coefficients, drag coefficients and pressure coefficients were evaluated. The computations were carried out at Mach number 0.4758 with Reynolds number 5.61×106 conditions to obtain the flow field around the aircraft swept wing with and without a simulated 5 minutes rime ice accretion. The aircraft wing with rime ice shape was extended across the entire span of the wing. The aerodynamic performance of the aircraft swept wing with and without ice accretion on the angle of attack range −2 to 16 degrees has also been investigated. This computational study is based on the commercial Fluent 6.3.26 code, was used for solving the set of governing equations using the one equation Spalart-Allmaras(S-A) turbulence model and second order upwind differencing. The CFD computation can also accurately predict the aerodynamic performance changes of lift and drag coefficients until up to stall.