Three-Dimensional Front-Tracking Technique for Multistep Simulations of Aircraft Icing

What is it about?

This paper introduces a new method for automatically modeling three-dimensional boundary problems and creating a conformal mesh. It focuses on handling the challenging issue of long-term ice buildup during flights, which leads to highly irregular ice formations. The method uses a level-set function to define boundaries within the computational volume based on the position of reference points relative to the deformed geometry. Unlike other techniques, this approach prevents mesh tangling and grid overlap, allowing for accurate representation of complex ice shapes. The paper also proposes effective smoothing methods for refining these shapes. The method's performance is demonstrated through numerical simulations on aircraft components under different icing conditions, and the results are compared with experimental data from the 1st AIAA Ice Prediction Workshop.

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