Icing environment rotor test stand liquidwater content measurement procedures and ice shape correlation

An Adverse Environment Rotor Test Stand (AERTS) facility has been designed and constructed. The facility is able to reproduce natural icing conditions surrounding rotating blades with a maximum diameter of 9 ft and tip speeds of up to 470 ft/s.ALiquidWater Content (LWC) calculationmethodology was developed, and procedures to determine experimental LWC in the facility are presented in this paper. Ice shape measurements on a 10.5-inch-chord, 9-ft-diameter, NACA 0012 rotor were obtained at the AERTS facility and compared with experimental results obtained at the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel. The experimental ice shape correlation is excellent, with stagnation ice thickness and impingement limits deviating by less than 1% between results obtained in the AERTS facility and NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel. Ice shape correlation demonstrates the capability of the facility to produce accurate icing clouds.