A three-dimensional surface water droplet impingement characterization method based on Eulerian streamlines

Xiaobin SHEN; Zekun YE; Jingyu ZHAO; Jietao GUO; Guiping LIN

doi:10.7527/S1000-6893.2025.32751

ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA >

2026 , Vol. 47 >Issue 11: 632751 - 632751

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7527/S1000-6893.2025.32751

Special Topic: Anti-icing and De-icing Technology for Aeroengines

A three-dimensional surface water droplet impingement characterization method based on Eulerian streamlines

Xiaobin SHEN ,
Zekun YE ,
Jingyu ZHAO ,
Jietao GUO ,
Guiping LIN

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^1.School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering，Beihang University，Beijing 100191，China
^2.Hangzhou International Innovation Institute，Beihang University，Hangzhou 311115，China

E-mail： shenxiaobin@buaa.edu.cn

Received date: 2025-09-03

Revised date: 2025-10-20

Accepted date: 2025-12-01

Online published: 2025-12-09

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Abstract

The computation of droplet impingement characteristics on three-dimensional surface is the primary task for ice accretion analysis and anti-icing/de-icing system design for an aircraft and its engine. To overcome the shortcomings of the traditional Eulerian method and Lagrangian method， a streamline-based Eulerian method was established to obtain three-dimensional surface water droplet impingement characteristic. This method only solves the momentum equation to derive the velocity distribution， and does not require calculating the droplet continuity equation. Droplet streamlines are generated via backward integration from the vertices of the three-dimensional surface mesh， allowing impingement characteristics to be calculated without predetermination for droplet release locations or tracking a large number of droplet trajectories. The proposed method is applied to compute droplet collection efficiencies on a three-dimensional sphere， a spinner， and an engine inlet. The results show high computational efficiency and good agreement with the data in the literature， thereby confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of the streamline-based Eulerian method for three-dimensional droplet impingement analysis. This work can provide reference for the ice accretion analysis and anti-icing/de-icing system design of aircraft and engines.

Key words： aircraft icing; droplet impingement characteristic; Eulerian method; Lagrangian method; engine

Cite this article

Xiaobin SHEN , Zekun YE , Jingyu ZHAO , Jietao GUO , Guiping LIN . A three-dimensional surface water droplet impingement characterization method based on Eulerian streamlines[J]. ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA, 2026 , 47(11) : 632751 -632751 . DOI: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2025.32751

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