NASA Enhances Aircraft Icing Safety Research

• NASA is conducting research at the Glenn Research Center to address "supercooled large droplet" (SLD) icing, a rare but dangerous aviation hazard.
• Researchers are improving testing capabilities in the Icing Research Tunnel to better simulate and measure these large, cold water droplets.
• The findings will help the aviation industry update engineering tools and improve aircraft design to protect against icing that can reach areas behind standard protection systems.

Understanding the Hazard

• Supercooled water remains liquid below freezing (32°F) unless it touches particles like dust.
• Typical aircraft design accounts for droplets between 2 and 100 microns.
• SLD conditions involve droplets up to 2,000 microns, which can splash and freeze on unprotected surfaces behind standard ice-protection zones.

Testing and Methodology

• NASA is testing new probes capable of detecting and analyzing droplets larger than 45 microns in real time.
• By integrating data from these new probes with existing measurements for smaller droplets, researchers can map the full droplet size spectrum.
• This testing is part of the Subsonic Flight Demonstrator project, with results intended for sharing with the global aerospace community to improve future safety standards.