Evaluation of capillary reinforced composites for anti-icing

This paper discusses the evaluation of glass capillary reinforced advanced composite structures for anti-icing purposes. The concept involves embedding glass capillary tubes on the surface of a composite structure and ducting heated air through the tubes. A computer program was developed to predict the anti-icing performance of such tubes and a test program was conducted to demonstrate the actual performance of this system. Test data and analytical code results were in excellent agreement. Both indicate the feasibility of using capillary tubes for surface heating in order to combat ice accumulation on advanced composite structures.