Use of RBF Morph mesh morphing for the estimation of airfoil performances in presence of ice profiles

This paper shows how mesh morphing can be effectively used as a tool for updating CFD models of wings into iced configurations, i.e. accounting for the presence of complex shapes originated during ice accretion. Although several approach are well established for the prediction of ice build up, a robust method capable to continuously update the original geometry into the iced one is a paramount for automate calculation workflows suitable for ice accretion prediction and wing performances degeneration. Thanks to the use of the mesh morphing software RBF Morph and the CFD solver ANSYS Fluent a method for automatic update of the mesh has been implemented. Presented results are based on Lewice 2.0 validation manual. Six benchmark shapes have been selected and the proposed workflow is capable to update the mesh from original to iced configuration (in this case final shapes are known in advance). At each intermediate step the quality of the morphed mesh is monitored. Wing performance is then examined considering both global ANSYS USER GROUP MEETING ITALIA Jun. 2013 2 forces (polar plots) and local Cp profiles. Additional benchmarks were finally carried out to demonstrate the workflow in a tridimensional environment.