Aerodynamic icing has a significant influence on aircraft performance. When an aircraft is not operating at the full capacity of ice free configuration, it is called degraded.
A better understanding of degraded aircraft capabilities is necessary for the prevention of accidents, concerning different forms of ice accretion. In addition an important point to increase flight safety is basically to prevent any ice accretions on the aircrafts surfaces. There are several aspects which have to be investigated to improve the ice handling:
How is it possible to avoid or leave icing areas, without jeopardizing any air traffic member including oneself? The generation of optimal trajectories to avoid and leave areas with icing conditions, especially for degraded aircraft, must fit in the modern air traffic management concepts.
How can icing-effects be modeled for flight simulation and what are the influences on aircraft performance, dynamics and the controllability? Accretion of ice depends on atmospheric conditions and current aircraft state and has various effects on aircraft behavior. Reliable modeling approaches have to be investigated, which describe the extensive effects of aerodynamic icing and allow a reliable analysis of the altered aircraft capabilities.
How can degraded aircraft be safely returned from a hazardous flight condition? Recovery maneuvers and flight training procedures are evaluated in studies with a motion based flight simulator.
The current developments in the area of aerodynamics icing concerning the degraded flight performance are the basis for further research activities. Results of numerical and experimental investigations from the project partners will provide useful information about the effects of aircraft icing for the model development. A new global approach in icing research is to consider not only the degraded aircraft itself but also the impact on surrounding traffic.
Participating Institutes:
