An anti-icing scaling method for wind tunnel tests of aircraft thermal ice protection system

The efficiency of the aircraft Ice Protection Systems (IPSs) needs to be verified through icing wind tunnel tests. However, the scaling method for testing the IPSs has not been systematically established yet, and further research is needed. In the present study, a scaling method specifically designed for thermal IPSs was derived from the governing equation of thin water film. Five scaling parameters were adopted to address the heat and mass transfer involved in the thermal anti-icing process. For method validation, icing wind tunnel tests were conducted using a jet engine nacelle model equipped with a bleed air IPS. The non-dimensional surface temperature and runback ice closely matched for both the reference and scaled conditions. The validation confirms that the scaling method is capable of achieving the similarity of surface temperature and the runback ice coverage. The anti-icing scaling method can serve as an important supplement to the existing icing similarity theory.