A Fundamental Study Toward Innovative Plasma-Based Anti-/De-icing Strategies for Aircraft Icing Mitigation

飞机积冰是寒冷天气下对飞机运行最严重的气象灾害之一。机身表面的积冰会使飞机不受控制地滚转或俯仰，甚至导致坠毁。虽然已经开发了许多用于飞机结冰缓解的系统，但是当前的防冰/除冰策略具有各种缺点，包括太复杂、太重或消耗太多的功率而不能有效。解决这些问题的一个有前途的方法是利用等离子体激励飞机防/除冰操作。该项目的主要目的是研究等离子体放电与不同物质（即，空气，水和冰）与积冰过程的发展一类新的战略飞机结冰缓解。该项目还将包括重要的教育活动，包括一个多年的研究生/本科生研究计划，新的教学模块的开发，以及为当地K-12学生，特别是那些来自STEM领域代表性不足的群体，激励他们参与科学和工程研究。这项研究的目标是进行一项基础研究，以表征电介质的影响，动态积冰过程中阻挡放电（DBD）等离子体激励对耦合非定常传热传质的影响。研究任务包括：1）对与飞机结冰现象相关的低温环境温度下DBD等离子体激励的热力学特性进行了基础研究; 2）研究了DBD等离子体放电与液态水和固态冰之间的动态相互作用，以进一步了解基本机制; 3）研究了DBD等离子体激励对翼型/机翼表面积冰非定常耦合传热传质的影响; 4）探索/优化设计范例，以开发用于飞机结冰缓解的创新的、有效的、基于DBD等离子体的防冰/除冰策略。与传统的防冰/除冰方法相比，基于DBD等离子体的防冰/除冰方法可以具有显著的优点，包括i）更有效的加热机制; ii）更快的响应时间;以及iii）用于防冰/除冰操作的更低的操作功耗。这项研究将大大提高我们对重要的微物理热/质量传输过程的理解，这可能导致一类新的DBD等离子体的发展，反/去该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的知识价值和广泛影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

Aircraft icing is one of the most serious weather hazards to aircraft operation in cold weathers. Ice accretion over airframe surfaces can make the aircraft to roll or pitch uncontrollably, and even cause crashes. While a number of systems have been developed for aircraft icing mitigation, current anti-/de-icing strategies suffer from various drawbacks, including being too complex, too heavy or draw too much power to be effective. One promising method to resolve these issues is to utilize plasma actuation for aircraft anti-/de-icing operation. The principal aim of this project is to investigate the underlying physics of plasma discharges interacting with different substances (i.e., air, water and ice) associated with ice accretion process for the development of a new class of strategies for aircraft icing mitigation. The project will also encompass significant educational activities, including a multi-year graduate/undergraduate research program, development of new teaching modules, and an outreach program for local K-12 students, especially those from groups underrepresented in STEM fields, to inspire them to participate in science and engineering studies.The goal of this proposed research is to conduct a fundamental study to characterize the effects of Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge (DBD) plasma actuation on the coupled unsteady heat and mass transfer during the dynamic ice accretion process. The research tasks include: 1) conduct a fundamental study to characterize the thermodynamic characteristics of DBD plasma actuations under frozen-cold ambient temperatures pertinent to aircraft icing phenomena; 2) examine dynamic interactions between DBD plasma discharges with liquid water and solid ice to gain further insights into the fundamental mechanisms; 3) characterize the effects of the DBD plasma actuation on the coupled unsteady heat and mass transfer over ice accreting airfoil/wing surfaces; 4) explore/optimize design paradigms for the development of innovative, effective, DBD-plasma-based anti-/de-icing strategies for aircraft icing mitigation. In comparison with conventional anti-/de-icing methods, DBD-plasma-based anti-/de-icing approach could have significant advantages, including i) more efficient heating mechanism; ii) faster response time; and iii) lower operation power consumption for anti-/de-icing operation. The research would significantly improve our understanding about the important micro-physical thermal/mass transport processes, which could lead to the development of a new class of DBD-plasma-based, anti-/de-icing strategies to ensure safer and more efficient aircraft operation in cold weathers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.