ENGINEERING SUMMARY OF POWERPLANT ICING TECHNICAL DATA

The problem of aircraft engine icing is caused by the existence of liquid water droplets in atmospheric clouds at temperatures below freezing. The disturbance resulting from an airplane flying through these supercooled droplets causes the formation of ice on the impinging surfaces. Aircraft engines ingest these droplets in concentrations of roughly fifty percent greater than the cloud concentration, and the first few stages of the engine compressor are subject to icing. Engine icing can be prevented, or at least kept within tolerable limits, by engine design procedures which utilize: the tendency of the rotor to shed ice by centrifugal effects before it gets too thick, the tendency of the fan to create warmer temperatures by compression effects, and various designs of active anti-icing systems. This report provides the aircraft engine designer with appropriate background information, and with sufficient equations and design charts, and instructions regarding their use, such that a logical approach to the complex problem of engine ice prevention can be established and understood. A technical data review and discussion of current practices of test verification procedures are presented to give visibility to those areas of atmospheric icing phenomena which can be realistically simulated by experiments, and to point out those areas in which more research is needed. (Author)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also Rept. no FAA-ADS-4, AD-608 865.
• Corporate Authors:

  Pratt and Whitney Aircraft

  Commercial Products Division, 400 Main Street
  East Hartford, CT  United States  06118
• Authors:
  • Pfeifer, G D
  • Maier, G P
• Publication Date: 1977-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 203 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft; Clouds; Compressors; Deicing; Deicing chemicals; Engines; Ice formations; Ice prevention; Rotors; Simulation; Temperature; Turbojet engines; Vehicle design; Water
• Uncontrolled Terms: Aircraft engines
• Old TRIS Terms: Engine design; Ingestion engines
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00167332
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: FAA-RD-77-76 Final Rpt., PWA-5522
• Contract Numbers: DOT-FA76WA-3840
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 8 1978 12:00AM