Predicting Ice Formation on the Surfaces Exposed to the Air Containing Supercooled Droplets Using Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics Method

Weakly Compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (WCSPH) was applied to simulate the three dimensional, three-phase phenomenon of ice formation on a solid surface exposed to the humid airflow. It was assumed that air contains supercooled droplets of that, upon collision with a solid surface, some of them undergo a phase change and turn to ice. To describe this phenomenon, fluid hydrodynamic equations along with energy balance equations were considered and solved. The validity of the method was confirmed because the collection efficiency obtained from this method for flow on spheres was in good agreement with the literature. Then this method was used to predict this process in different conditions. The effect of Stokes dimensionless number on local collection efficiency and the effect of surface heat flux on the local and average ice formation efficiency were investigated. It was observed that the collection efficiency is higher in the center of the body and increases with increasing Stokes number. Consequently, the average efficiency of ice formation decreases with increasing flux. Also, the overall efficiency of ice formation in the center of the body is higher and less at the sides.