Effects of icing on the aerodynamic performance of high lift airfoils

A 2D compressible Navier-Stokes solver capable of analyzing multi-element airfoils is described. The flow field is divided into multiple zones. In each zone, the governing equations are solved using an implicit finite difference scheme. The flow solver is validated through a study of the aerodynamic characteristics of a GA(W)-1 configuration, for which good quality measured surface pressure data and load data are available. The solver is next applied to a study of the effects of icing on an iced 5-element airfoil configuration, experimentally studied at NASA Lewis Research Center. It is demonstrated that the formation of ice over the leading edge slat and the main airfoil can lead to significant flow separation, and a significant loss in lift, compared to clean configurations.