A new discrete approach applied to modelling of in-flight icing

In this paper, we propose and illustrate a new modelling approach to tackle the challenging problem of in-flight icing prediction. With this new approach, termed morphogenetic modelling, we attempt to predict the structural details of aircraft ice accretions by emulating the behaviour of individual fluid elements, including interception, surface flow, freezing, and shedding. A two-dimensional, morphogenetic model is used here to predict the ice-accretion shape and mass forming on a cylinder under rime and glaze conditions. The model takes into account the variation of local cloud-droplet collision efficiency and local heat transfer around the cylinder surface. It simulates such common icing features as horn formation, runback, and water shedding.We complement the numerical simulation with an analytical model for cylinder icing that is based on a simple form of the mass and heat conservation equations. This analytical investigation allows us to define a new dimensionless ratio, the runback factor, which is...