Abstract:
To address the challenges of high energy consumption and asynchronous shedding in aircraft electro-thermal de-icing systems, this study investigates the NACA0030 airfoil as the research object. By integrating icing wind tunnel experiments, microscopic observations, and numerical simulations, the spatial distribution characteristics of ice shedding behaviors are quantitatively characterized, and the correlation mechanism between localized convective heat transfer and ice microporosity is analyzed. The results indicate that the ice shedding time exhibits a distinct "high-low-high" distribution along the airfoil chord, where the region of minimum shedding time corresponds to the peak region of the convective heat transfer coefficient. Microscopic observations reveal that localized intense convective heat transfer induces the formation of a high-porosity ice layer. Based on heat transfer mechanism analysis and microstructural characteristics, it is inferred that this porous structure reduces the actual ice-substrate interfacial contact area and, due to its low thermal conductivity, potentially promotes heat accumulation near the interface, thereby synergistically lowering the de-icing energy consumption threshold. Based on the revealed spatial distribution characteristics of ice shedding, a zonal power inversion model for achieving synchronous ice shedding was developed. Experimental results demonstrate that, through differentiated power compensation, global synchronous shedding can be achieved within a heating power density range of 0.9–2 W/cm
2, with a time deviation of less than 7%. Compared with uniform power heating, the proposed strategy reduces energy consumption by 30% per de-icing cycle. These results provide a theoretical basis for the design of efficient and precise electrothermal de-icing systems.