In order to understand and model ice crystal icing (ICI) of aircraft turbofan engines, it is important to have a good understanding of every involved physical sub-process. One of these sub-processes is the fragmentation of ice particles which is shown in the high-speed videos produced by the icing lab of TU Darmstadt.
When an aircraft flies through clouds containing ice crystals, these crystals or ice particles are ingested into the engines where they impact on rotating and stationary parts. The number of fragments generated and their speed generated by an ice particle impact is required in order to model the whole ICI phenomenon. To better understand ice particle fragmentation, single particle impact experiments are conducted to investigate fragment size and their dynamics after impact. The major difference between these high-speed videos is the particle velocity before impact (24 km/h and 240 km/h). It can be seen that more and finer fragments are generated, if the impact velocity is higher. This and other effects are studied at the icing lab of TU Darmstadt
Slow impact video:
Fast impact video:
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under agreement No 767560