Design of Ice Protection Systems and Icing Certification Through the FENSAP-ICE System

The process of certifying a component or system for operation in an icing environment involves two basic steps, analysis and design, followed by icing tests, both of which can be streamlined by the use of 3-D CFD icing technology. The FENSAP-ICE modular system was conceived to support both design and certification of ice protection systems. The droplet impingement module is used to accurately predict high catch regions, which may require protection. These predictions can be obtained for complex 3-D geometries such as swept wings, air induction systems, radomes and complete aircraft or rotorcraft. The ice accretion module is used to compute ice shapes on unprotected surfaces. The heat load module is used to optimize power output required to protect critical surfaces. Thus, the judicious use of 3-D CFD technology in the design methodology of ice protection systems yields high-performance configurations for operation in icing conditions and thus reduces or focuses the scope of development testing. In addition, CFD can be used in the certification process to pinpoint the most critical conditions in order to produce a smaller test matrix, but yet ensure adequate coverage of the flight and icing envelopes. The present paper shows validation results of FENSAP-ICE and illustrates examples of the application of 3-D CFD icing technology in support of icing certification.