Experimental investigation on surface topography treatments for icing mitigation systems

Icing is a well-known weather hazard in various industries spanning from the transportation industry to the power generation industry. In the aviation industry, inflight icing occurs when supercooled water droplets impinge on the surface of the aircraft and freeze. This can cause the formation of ice structures on the surface of the aircraft that adversely affect the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. In the power generating industry, ice formation on wind turbine blades can adversely affect the aerodynamic performance of the blade and reduce the amount of power the wind turbine is able to generate. In some cases, icing can lead to the complete shutdown of the wind turbine. In the present study, a series of experimental studies were carried out at the Iowa State University Aircraft Icing Physics & Anti-/De-icing Lab to investigate the wind-driven water run-back characteristic of a novel laser treated surface, to differentiate between surfaces that show super-hydrophobicity and low water adhesion (lotus leaf effect), from surfaces that show super-hydrophobicity and high water adhesion (rose petal effect). The use of graphene as an anti-/de-icing method was investigated. Its wettability, icephobicity and thermal heating capability were characterized. An airfoil/wing model with graphene coated leading edge was placed in the Icing Research Tunnel of Iowa State University to demonstrate the use of graphene for icing mitigation. Finally, the effect of the thermal conductivity of airframe substrates on the effectiveness of anti-/de-icing system was investigated. The difference in performance under rime icing and glaze icing conditions were characterized.