Airbus Defence and Space GmbH is a division of Airbus who is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. Airbus Group Innovations is the corporate research facility of Airbus with operations in France, Germany, Spain, UK, Singapore and Russia. Its overall workforce is more than 800 researchers. Airbus Central R&T (formerly Airbus Group Innovations) sites in Munich belong legally to Airbus Defence and Space and employ about 350 people in research.

Within Airbus Central R&T (A-CRT), the Surface Engineering Department provides research and development facilities for advanced materials and new process technologies from elementary parts to optimised hybrid structures, in an integrated network within Airbus Group and in close co-operation with suppliers, universities and other research institutes.

Role in the project

A-CRT will be partner for experimental icing wind tunnel studies in WP1, specifically in T1.1 and T1.3. In T1.1. A-CRT will be in charge of investigating the influence of an ice layer on the impact outcome of ice crystals in terms of sticking efficiency, impact regime thresholds, and fragment properties under conditions corresponding to real flight. In T1.3 A-CRT will perform shedding experiments in the iCORE facility following ice accretion and heating to various conditions simulating real de-icing cases. Further, ice accretion and erosion at high airspeeds will be investigated. Finally, Laser-Doppler or similar devices will help monitoring individual particle shedding and fragmentation upon impact.