A novel method for robust and efficient prediction of ice shedding from rotorcraft blades

The safety of rotorcraft operating in cold environments is jeopardised by the possibility of ice accretion on the rotor blades. Eventually, ice can shed from the blade due to the high centrifugal forces and impact other parts of the rotorcraft or unbalance the rotor. To establish the shedding time and location for rotorcraft, a robust and efficent numerical multi-step icing simulations tool is presented here for predicting the shedding phenomenon. A volume-mesh based approach is used to allow for representing the ice shape. In order to increase the robustness of the method, an interpolation procedure is implemented which establishes the possible occurrence of the shedding event and restricts the search domain. Ice shapes along the blades are computed by means of two-dimensional ice accretion simulations: ice shapes are then interpolated over the blade span. Numerical results compares fairly well, in terms of shedding time and location, to the experimental ones obtained in the AERTS test facility, thus demonstrating the soundness of the present approach.