Investigation on the ice-type microstructure characteristics of aircraft icing based on the fractal theories

The ice-type microstructure characteristics of aircraft icing were investigated by combining icing tunnel and metallography tests based on the theories of fractal geometry. The fractal dimension of the ice-type microstructure was calculated by means of box-counting dimension method, and the relationship between the fractal dimension and the icing conditions was analyzed. The results indicate that the inflow temperature and velocity of the airflow have great influence on the fractal dimension of ice-type microstructure. The higher velocity or the lower the temperature means greater fractal dimension, and vice versa. Under the same icing conditions, the fractal dimension of runback icing is smaller than the leading edge icing.