Mesh Impact Analysis of Eulerian Method for Droplet Impingement Characteristics Under Aircraft Icing Conditions

The research of super-cooled water droplet impingement characteristics is the basis of the ice shape prediction and the aircraft anti-icing system performance analysis. The Eulerian method is frequently used to compute the droplet motion and impingement characteristics，so it is significant to analyze the accuracy of the Eulerian method when calculating the droplet impingement on complex surfaces. Taking a NACA 0012 airfoil，an icing wind tunnel，an S-shape duct and a multi-element airfoil as the research objects，the Eulerian method is used with different meshes to obtain the water droplet motion and collection efficiency. The results show that when the water droplet is not deflected or blocked by upstream components，the results obtained by the Eulerian method are slightly affected by the mesh. However， the results calculated by the Eulerian method are mesh-dependent with upstream trajectory deflections，and the liquid water content and collection efficiency calculated using different meshes are inconsistent. The impact of the mesh on the calculation of the Eulerian method needs to be considered when droplets are affected by upstream effects. The findings of this research are beneficial for the accuracy of aircraft icing simulation.