In-flight anti-icing simulation of electrothermal ice protection systems with inhomogeneous thermal boundary condition

Conventional anti-icing computational solvers calculate the convective heat transfer coefficient using a homogeneous thermal boundary condition, assuming a constant temperature across the surface. However, this approach can lead to inaccuracies in regions with significant temperature variations. To address this limitation, the present study proposes a novel approach that utilizes an inhomogeneous thermal boundary condition, which updates the convective heat transfer coefficient based on the transient wall temperature distribution. We developed a unified finite volume framework that efficiently integrates various in-house solvers, including a compressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) airflow solver, a Eulerian droplet impingement solver, a PDE-based ice solver, and a multilayer heat conduction solver. Thermal interaction between the different solvers was modeled using the conjugate heat transfer method. The effects of updating airflow on anti-icing results were investigated by comparing the results obtained by coupled and decoupled solvers. While the decoupled solver computes airflow once and remains unchanged, the coupled solver updates the airflow during the anti-icing simulation. Our findings show that the decoupled solver has the highest deviations from the coupled solver in evaporative anti-icing regimes, where dry regions form within the protection limits. Using coupled solvers in designing ice protection systems in evaporative regimes improves temperature prediction accuracy, enabling designers to reduce safety factors and save energy.