CIAM participates in ICE GENESIS international aircraft de-icing project

The stability of airplanes and helicopters to the effects of climatic conditions is one of the most important components of flight safety. Aircraft ice protection, despite some progress in the development of technical means and methods, remains a pressing issue for the entire world community.

Creating the next generation of 3D simulations means for icing is the main goal of the ICE GENESIS international cooperation project of the European Union's Horizon 2020 program.

The project started this year and is designed for four years. The Russian side in the project, together with the Central Institue of Aviation Motors (CIAM, a subsidiary of the National Research Center ‘Zhukovsky Institute’), is represented by TsAGI as the project coordinator in Russia, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and the Central Aerological Observatory.

The researchers of Russia and the European Union are to develop computational and experimental methods for modeling and protecting against large supercooled drops and snow.

In the project, CIAM is responsible for the experimental part: selection of measuring devices, upgrading test equipment and its calibration in accordance with the EASA requirements for environmental tests, as well as for conducting a set of experimental studies on modeling the atmospheric conditions of large supercooled drops in bench conditions.

“Supercooled water droplets contained in the atmospheric cloud, in contact with elements of the wing or fuselage, form ice buildup,” comments the project manager at CIAM Alexey Goryachev (Ph.D.). - Using only anti-icing coatings, as a rule, does not lead to the desired results. A set of measures is needed to protect the elements of an aircraft from the effects of icing conditions. CIAM has several decades’ experience in research on icing. There is no analogue of our test base in Europe. In the course of the project implementation, it is also planned to modernize the CIAM stand for environmental testing.”

Creating a new generation of 3D simulation means for icing will allow weather hazards to be more precisely evaluated and properly mitigated. Furthermore, the results of the ICE GENESIS project will open up the possibility of using digital tools as a means of confirming the compliance of business aircraft, regional and long-haul aircraft, helicopters and engines with regulatory requirements.