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RTA Rail Tec Arsenal Fahrzeugversuchsanlage GmbH has focused on the simulation of in-flight icing conditions since 2012. Following the successful implementation of the icing conditions specified in EASA CS-25 Appendix C, it was expected that the facility could also be used to simulate the SLD conditions required by EASA CS-25 Appendix O. This paper sets forth theoretical considerations concerning the selection of suitable nozzles and their operation in the existing facility. The transport of large droplets through the contraction nozzle was simulated using a CFD program. The results then served as a basis for deriving secondary droplet breakup. The validations carried out confirm the theoretical considerations and identify potential limits and open research questions.

This paper provides information on the comparison of numerical simulations with experimental data for an electrothermal ice protection system with a focus on Appendix O [1] Freezing Drizzle (FZDZ) and Freezing Rain (FZRA) conditions. The experimental data is based on a test campaign with a 2D NACA23012 wing section in the RTA Icing Wind Tunnel in Vienna. 22 icing runs (all either unheated or in anti-ice mode) were performed in total and all residual ice shapes were documented by means of high-resolution 3D scanning. Unheated FZDZ and FZRA reference as well as heated cases with different heater configurations are presented. The experimental results are compared to numerical predictions from two different icing codes from AeroTex GmbH (ATX) and the University of Applied Sciences FH JOANNEUM (FHJ) in Graz. The current capabilities of the codes were assessed in detail and regions for improvement were identified.

The simulation of natural-like snow conditions in a controlled environment such as an Icing Wind Tunnel (IWT) is a key component for safe, efficient and cost-effective design and certification of future aircraft and rotorcraft. Current capabilities do not sufficiently match the properties of natural snow, especially in terms of size and morphology. Within the Horizon 2020 project ICE GENESIS, a new technology has been developed aiming to better recreate natural snowflakes. The focus of the newly developed system was the generation of falling snow in a temperature range of +1°C to -4°C. Ground measurements and flight test campaigns have been performed to better characterize these conditions and provide requirements for wind tunnel facilities. The calibration results of the new snow generation system as well as snow accretion data on a NACA0012 test article with a chord length of 0.377 m are presented.

When conducting experiments in icing wind tunnels (IWTs), a significant question is to what extent the temperature of the water droplets generated by the spray system has converged to the static air temperature when the droplets impinge on the test object. This is a particularly important issue for large droplets, since the cooling rate of droplets decreases sharply with increasing diameter. In this paper, on the one hand, realistic droplet temperature distributions in the measurement section of the Rail Tec Arsenal IWT (located in Vienna) are computed by means of a numerical code which tracks the paths of the droplets from the spraying nozzle to the measurement section and simultaneously calculates their cooling rates. On the other hand, numerical icing simulations are performed to investigate to what extent the deviation of the droplet temperature from static air temperature influences icing and thermal anti-icing processes.