Numerical Simulation of Trace Water Icing Characteristics on Airfoil Under Cryogenic Conditions

Compared with conventional wind tunnels，cryogenic wind tunnels can supply testing airflow with higher Reynolds numbers. However，the residual trace water vapor in the cryogenic wind tunnel may affect the accuracy of aerodynamic data at low temperatures. Due to the difficulty of experimental methods，the characteristics of trace water icing still need to be revealed. Based on the Eulerian method，a multiphase flow model of wet air，subcooled droplets and ice crystals is established in this paper. The icing process caused by subcooled droplets and ice crystals condensed from water vapor on the airfoil under the condition of cryogenic wind tunnels is simulated. The results show good consistency with experimental data. The effects of the total water content，melt ratio，airflow temperature，pressure，Mach number and other parameters on icing process are analyzed，and the effects of the airfoil icing on aerodynamic characteristics are also quantified，which may provide a theoretical reference for the actual operation of cryogenic wind tunnels.