导航

Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (11): 632933.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2025.32933

• Special Topic: Anti-icing and De-icing Technology for Aeroengines • Previous Articles    

Numerical simulation of melting and shape evolution characteristics of non-spherical ice crystals

Fuhao ZHONG1, Xiufang LIU1,2(), Jiajun CHEN1, Bo HAN1, Zhou FANG1, Yu HOU1,2   

  1. 1.School of Energy and Power Engineering,Xi’an Jiaotong University,Xi’an 710049,China
    2.Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Technology and Equipment of Ministry of Education,Xi’an Jiaotong University,Xi’an 710049,China
  • Received:2025-10-17 Revised:2025-12-02 Accepted:2025-12-25 Online:2026-01-12 Published:2026-01-09
  • Contact: Xiufang LIU E-mail:liuxiufang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(52476018);National Science and Technology Major Project of China (J2019-Ⅲ-0010-0054)

Abstract:

To investigate the melting characteristics and shape evolution of non-spherical ice crystals in hot airflow environment, a melting model for non-spherical ice crystals was developed based on a decoupling strategy for flow and phase-change heat transfer, enabling a solution to the complex heat transfer problem involving gas-liquid-solid coupling. The results demonstrate that the proposed model accurately predicts the shape evolution process during ice crystal melting, and the predicted melting time agrees well with experimental results, with a deviation of ±15%. The shape evolution of non-spherical ice crystals undergoes three distinct stages: an initial warming stage where the shape remains stable, a partial water coverage stage where liquid water partially covers the ice core surface, and a complete water coverage stage where the ice core is fully enveloped. The initial aspect ratio is identified as the key factor governing the shape evolution during melting. A larger initial aspect ratio results in a longer time required for the ice crystal to evolve into a spherical shape. Furthermore, an empirical correlation between dimensionless sphericity and the melting ratio was established, overcoming the limitations of the traditional linear approximation model for high-aspect-ratio (initial aspect ratio λ > 2) ice crystals and significantly improving computational accuracy.

Key words: ice crystal icing, non-spherical, shape evolution, melting model, multiphase heat transfer

CLC Number: