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Possible Mechanisms for Turbofan Engine Ice Crystal Icing at High AltitudeA thermodynamic model is presented to describe possible mechanisms of ice formation on unheated surfaces inside a turbofan engine compression system from fully glaciated ice crystal clouds often formed at high altitude near deep convective weather systems. It is shown from the analysis that generally there could be two distinct types of ice formation: (1) when the "surface freezing fraction" is in the range of 0 to 1, dominated by the freezing of water melt from fully or partially melted ice crystals, the ice structure is formed from accretion with strong adhesion to the surface, and (2) when the "surface melting fraction" is the range of 0 to 1, dominated by the further melting of ice crystals, the ice structure is formed from accumulation of un-melted ice crystals with relatively weak bonding to the surface. The model captures important qualitative trends of the fundamental ice-crystal icing phenomenon reported earlier (Refs. 1 and 2) from the research collaboration work by NASA and the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. Further, preliminary analysis of test data from the 2013 full scale turbofan engine ice crystal icing test (Ref. 3) conducted in the NASA Glenn Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL) has also suggested that (1) both types of ice formation occurred during the test, and (2) the model has captured some important qualitative trend of turning on (or off) the ice crystal ice formation process in the tested engine low pressure compressor (LPC) targeted area under different icing conditions that ultimately would lead to (or suppress) an engine core roll back (RB) event.
Document ID
20160011109
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Tsao, Jen-Ching
(Ohio Aerospace Inst. Brook Park, OH, United States)
Struk, Peter M.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Oliver, Michael J.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2016
Publication Date
August 1, 2016
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Aircraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TM-2016-219128
AIAA Paper 2014-3044
GRC-E-DAA-TN33603
E-19251
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 648987.02.02.03.10
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNC13BA10B
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Crystal Icing
Turbofan Engine
Icing
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