Aerodynamics of a Common Research Model Wing with Leading-Edge Ice Shape

Icing on three-dimensional lifting surfaces has been shown to produce highly complex flowfields. However, there is a lack of experimental and computational information in the public domain regarding three-dimensional aerodynamics for iced commercial aircraft wing geometries. Recent work completed at NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel has developed realistic ice shapes for the leading edge of a 65% scale Common Research Model (CRM65). These ice shapes were then converted into artificial ice shapes that were used in aerodynamic testing at the Wichita State University's Walter H. Beech Wind Tunnel on an 8.9% scale CRM65. RANS simulations were computed for one large leading-edge ice shape to assess the ability to predict the aerodynamic performance parameters and to better understand the flow physics. In general, RANS reasonably captures the complex "swept stall" flow features, which are dominated by strong spanwise flow and separation line breaks. Despite the flow complexity, the simulations are able to generally predict the chordwise pressure distributions even at high angles of attack. While the coefficients of lift, drag, and moment are more accurately captured at lower angles of attack than higher angles of attack, the agreement with experimental data is quite reasonable given the complexity of the flow around this iced swept wing.