New UAV ice tunnel characterization

Abstract. In the recent years, the field of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) has shown great technological progresses and many new applications have born. To assess the potential of this technology and to improve the availability and reliability of the rising services it is critical to overcome operational limitations. One key operational hazard is atmospheric in-flight icing, resulting in large aerodynamic penalties, unbalances and other detrimental phenomena that sometimes can lead to catastrophic consequences. In this paper, a new ice tunnel developed in the large hypobaric and climatic chamber of the terraXcube facility of Eurac will be presented. A preliminary characterization and calibration of the system has been also performed following the EASA regulation reported in the Easy Access Rules for Large Rotorcraft (CS-29) (Amendment 6).