Numerical simulation of the droplet field inside a engine nacelle

∞The intake system is vulnerable to icing caused by the impact of supercooled water droplets. This study focuses on analyzing the intake by simulating free-stream and intake airflow conditions. It utilizes the self-developed soft-ware NNWICE of our research group to calculate the flow field using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations while simultaneously computing the water droplet trajectories using the Eulerian method. The investigation encompasses varying conditions of water droplet diameters (MVDs = 10, 20, 40 μm), inflow velocities ( U ∞ = 80, 100, 120 m/s), and air intake rates ( Q = 10, 30, 50 kg/s) to assess their impact on the distribution and changes of liquid water content (LWCs) along the pathway. The numerical simulation findings reveal that increases in water droplet diameter, flow velocity, and air intake rate amplify the asymmetrical effects on LWC distribution and the thickness of the protected area, particularly influenced by variations in intake flow rate and droplet size. Further-more, the study demonstrates a negative correlation between these parameters and the average LWC ( LWCaverage ) and the three variables. Consequently, we introduce two comprehensive impact parameters, X₁ and X₂, representing the combined effects under free-stream and intake conditions, respectively. Initial error analysis suggests that X₁ and X₂, effectively characterize average LWCaverage , offering valuable insights for future research on discrepancies between intake simulations and free-stream conditions.