Aerodynamic Performance Losses due to Ice Formation on the UAV’s Wings

Abstract

Ice accretion on unmanned air vehicle’s wing modifies the initial airfoilcontour and changes the aerodynamic characteristic of the wing. The aimof this research is to calculate performance losses on a wing due to theaccretion of rime ice. In this study, ice formation on NREL S826 airfoil ispredicted by using ice accretion tool. The computed aerodynamic loads arecompared for clean wings and iced wings with different aspect ratios. Thecomputations are based on the lifting-line method. According to the results,predicted aerodynamic performance loss is higher for small aspect ratiothan that of the bigger for the rime ice.