The threat of ice crystals for civil aviation

Stephan Bansmer (TU Braunschweig) Cambridge Fluids Network - fluids-related seminars 17 November 2017 1:00pm JDB Seminar Room, CUED Icing crystal icing is a severe problem for aviation as it can significantly affect the operation of engines and pitot probes. Ice crystals were one of the reasons for the fatal accident of flight AF 447 Rio de Janeiro – Paris in 2009. After introducing the phenomenon of ice crystal icing, the challenges to reproduce these conditions in an icing wind tunnel are presented. Selected experimental results will reveal some of the underlying physical background. This understanding finally yielded an improvement of aircraft safety.