Numerical Simulation of Synthetic Jet Actuator-Based Ice Protection Systems

This chapter investigates numerically a novel approach to efficient icing control using an array of thermally activated synthetic jet actuators (SJAs) embedded in an aircraft surface exposed to ice accretion due to supercooled subsonic upstream flow. Some general aspects of the unsteady active flow control (AFC) using synthetic-jet actuation are first addressed, including integrating multiple design and analysis tools to account for various geometry and unsteady flow parameters. A numerical example is provided to illustrate high-accuracy numerical simulations of SJA-based AFC in application to low-Re airfoil unsteady aerodynamic response control. A numerically efficient approach is developed to allow for the natural interaction of the generated synthetic jet with the external flow without the need to model the entire actuator dynamics. The effects of SJA actuation with and without jet heating on ice accretion are next examined for a benchmark test case of the flow over a wedge. The parametric study investigates the effects of droplet distribution, SJA chamber temperature, droplet size, and freestream temperature. It is shown that the use of heated actuating SJAs may lead to complete prevention or a significant reduction in the ice accreted on the wedge surface.