Atomization equipment for simulating icing environment

The icing of aircraft can easily cause air accidents, leading to the consequences of aircraft damage and fatalities. To investigate the mechanism of aircraft icing, simulation of the high-altitude clouds as the icing environment becomes necessary. Clouds always contain many microscale subcooled droplets, which makes the accurate control of the icing environment simulation challenging. In this chapter, to optimize the icing environment simulation, the arrangement of 10 nozzles in the atomizer was adjusted, and a model of the atomization equipment in an icing cloud simulation system was independently developed. Two parameters, the ice shape and the maximum ice thickness on the test rod, are used to validate this mode. The error of maximum ice thickness, maximum, and mean deviations are 2.6%, 1.13mm, and 0.68mm, respectively. Based on this model, the performance of the icing environment at different nozzle arrangements was simulated and analyzed. To optimize and provide a reference design for the atomization equipment, a numerical study on its performance and antifreezing design verification was carried out. Freeze protection was finally enabled by ensuring the supplement temperature of the water, as well as the air in pipes, was higher than 302K. Results suggested the best position for the test, at 2m upstream of the nozzle outlet. The water flow temperature at the nozzle outlet was 29.45K higher than the freezing point. Contributions of this study could effectively guide the realization of a better-simulated icing environment.