Numerical Simulation of Freezing Process of a Sessile Supercooled Water Droplet on a Cold Wall

When supercooled droplets in clouds impinge and stick on aircraft in flight, icing phenomena may occur. The freezing process of a sessile supercooled water droplet on a cold surface is therefore numerically investigated. The simulations consider the gravity effect on the droplet shape and include the recalescence stage effect on the droplet freezing by adjusting the droplet physical properties and the simulation initial conditions. Calculations are performed based on the solidification/melting model in Fluent. The numerically calculated droplet freezing process agrees well with the experimental observation in the literature and the difference in the final freezing time is 12.5%. Further calculations are made to investigate the influences of supercooling degree, contact angle and airflow velocity on the freezing process, and the results show that greater supercooling degree, smaller contact angle and larger airflow velocity lead to faster freezing and shorter final freezing time, which may provide a reference for in-depth studies on aircraft icing.