1. SCOPE:

This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) contains information on most of the major icing simulation ground facilities. An effort was made to obtain data from as many facilities as possible over a two year time period. The data in this document represents the state of the facilities in calendar year 1996. Facilities are constantly changing and upgrading and, therefore, some facility specifications may change during the life of this report.

Of the 27 facilities described in this report, the primary use is split with approximately half for engine testing and half for wind tunnel testing. The facilities are limited to ground facilities and, therefore, icing tankers have not been included.

1.1 Purpose:

The primary purpose of this document is to document the capabilities of the world's major icing simulation ground facilities. This report should be very useful for an organization interested in selecting a facility for a particular test. The usual information on facility test section size, speed, cloud parameters, etc. are provided for this purpose, along with a contact person at each facility. However, it is the purpose of this report to go beyond the information found in a list of facilities.

The operation of an icing facility is more complex than that of a non-icing facility. The instrumentation and methods used to calibrate the spray and tunnel, and that used to monitor test condition, should be very important to the facility user. Droplet size and concentration measurements are very difficult to make and the uncertainty, even in state-of-the-art measurements, is high. Therefore, data were collected and reported on the details of the calibration of the facility spray system. Data are also presented on the facility instrumentation used to monitor and document the tunnel test condition. The purpose of including these kinds of data was to document the importance of proper calibration and careful cloud measurements to the success of a test program.

This report should find application for all disciplines which use ground icing simulation facilities. This includes research, development, certification of ice protection systems, sensors, instruments, fundamental testing of aerodynamics, heat transfer, ice shedding, ice properties, and accretion physics.