Numerical investigation of ice crystal melting characteristic and icing risk in an axial compressor

Abstract The ingestion of ice crystals in aero-engine will cause engine surge, flameout, thrust loss, and even in-flight shutdown in the extreme cases, which seriously endanger the flight safety. In order to quantitatively investigate the ice crystal melting characteristic in the compressor, a method based on the compressor mean line flow was developed and validated. Results showed that the wet-bulb temperature increases as the temperature offset increases. The increase in temperature offset or decrease in particle size result in earlier or faster melting of the ice crystals in the low-pressure compressor. The rate of increase in melting ratio decreases with the increase of ice water content at the descent condition. The ambient temperature and ice crystal property are both the important factors affecting the icing risk in the compressor. Higher ambient temperature, smaller particle size or higher ice water content can increase the icing risk in the low-pressure compressor.