ALBERT

Description: A procedure proposed for use in the design of air-heated systems for the continuous prevention of ice formation on airplane components is set forth. Required heat-transfer and air-pressure-loss equations are presented, and methods of selecting appropriate meteorological conditions for flight over specified geographical areas and for the calculation of water-drop-impingement characteristics are suggested. In order to facilitate the design, a simple electrical analogue was devised which solves the complex heat-transfer relationships existing in the thermal-system analysis. The analogue is described and an illustration of its application to design is given.

Description: The problems associated with providing icing protection for the critical components of a typical turbojet transport airplane operating over a range of probable icing conditions are analyzed and discussed. Heating requirements for several thermal methods of protection are evaluated and the airplane performance penalties associated with providing this protection from various energy sources are assessed. The continuous heating requirements for icing protection and the associated airplane performance penalties for the turbojet transport are considerably increased over those associated with lower-speed aircraft. Experimental results show that the heating requirements can be substantially reduced by the deve1opment of a satisfactory cyclic deicing system. The problem of providing protection can be minimized by employing a proper energy source since the airplane performance penalties vary considerably with the source of energy employed. The optimum icing protection system for the turbojet transport or for any other particular aircraft cannot be generally specified; the choice of the optimum system is dependent upon the specific characteristics of the airplane and engine, the flight plan, the probable icing conditions, and the performance requirements of the aircraft.

Description: Several methods of cyclic de-icing of a gas-heated airfoil were investigated to determine ice-removal characteristics and heating requirements. The cyclic de-icing system with a spanwise ice-free parting strip in the stagnation region and a constant-temperature gas-supply duct gave the quickest and most reliable ice removal. Heating requirements for the several methods of cyclic de-icing are compared, and the savings over continuous ice prevention are shown. Data are presented to show the relation of surface temperature, rate of surface heating, and heating time to the removal of ice.

Description: Three multicylinder cloud meters, fundamentally similar but differing in important details, were compared in use at the Mount Washington Observatory. Determinations of liquid water content were found to agree within the limits of the probable error, but the two instruments designed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics indicated larger drop sizes than did the Observatory's instrument, apparently because of spurious ice catch on the rather rough surface of the larger cylinders. Comparisons of drop-size distribution were largely indeterminate., In a critique of the method, the probable error of determination of liquid water content was found to be +/-8 percent; of drop size, +/-6 percent; and of drop-size distribution, about +/-0.7 unit of the modulus of distribution. Of the systematic errors, run-off of unfrozen water is most important, blow-off and erosion seldom being hampering. Revision of collection-efficiency computations for cylinders in clouds with distributed drop sizes was found necessary and also revision of one of the correction-factor graphs heretofore used. The assumption of constant ice density in deriving cylinder size was found to be permissible for cylinders 1 inch or more in diameter.

Description: Ground tests have been made of an instrument which, when assembled in a more compact form for flight installation, could be used to obtain statistical flight data on the liquid-water content of icing clouds and to provide an indication of icing severity. The sensing element of the instrument consists of an electrically heated wire which is mounted in the air stream. The degree of cooling of the wire resulting from evaporation of the impinging water droplets is a measure. of the liquid-water content of the cloud. Determination of the value of the liquid-water content from the wire temperature at any instant requires a knowledge of the airspeed, altitude, and air temperature. An analysis was made of the temperature response of a heated wire exposed to an air stream containing water drops. Comparisons were made of the liquid-water content as measured with several heated wires and absorbent cylinders in an artificially produced cloud. For one of the wires, comparative tests were made with a rotating-disk icing-rate meter in an icing wind tunnel. From the test results, it was shown that an instrument for measuring the concentration of liquid water in an air stream can be built using an electrically heated wire of known temperatureresistance characteristics, and that the performance of such a device can be predicted using appropriate theory. Although an instrument in a form suitable for gathering statistical data in flight was not built, the practicability of constructing such an instrument was illustrated. The ground-test results indicated that a flight heated-wire instrument would be simple and durable, would respond rapidly to variations in liquid-water content, and could be used for the measurement of water content in clouds which are above freezing temperature, as well as in icing clouds.

Description: The empirical relation between the induced velocity, thrust, and rate of vertical descent of a helicopter rotor was calculated from wind tunnel force tests on four model rotors by the application of blade-element theory to the measured values of the thrust, torque, blade angle, and equivalent free-stream rate of descent. The model tests covered the useful range of C(sub t)/sigma(sub e) (where C(sub t) is the thrust coefficient and sigma(sub e) is the effective solidity) and the range of vertical descent from hovering to descent velocities slightly greater than those for autorotation. The three bladed models, each of which had an effective solidity of 0.05 and NACA 0015 blade airfoil sections, were as follows: (1) constant-chord, untwisted blades of 3-ft radius; (2) untwisted blades of 3-ft radius having a 3/1 taper; (3) constant-chord blades of 3-ft radius having a linear twist of 12 degrees (washout) from axis of rotation to tip; and (4) constant-chord, untwisted blades of 2-ft radius. Because of the incorporation of a correction for blade dynamic twist and the use of a method of measuring the approximate equivalent free-stream velocity, it is believed that the data obtained from this program are more applicable to free-flight calculations than the data from previous model tests.

Description: A flight instrument that uses electric means for measuring the droplet-size distribution in above-freezing clouds has been devised and given preliminary evaluation in flight. An electric charge is placed on the droplets and they are separated aerodynamically according to their mass. Because the charge placed on the droplets is a. function of the droplet size, the size spectrum can 'be determined by measurement of the charge deposited on cylinders of several different sizes placed to intercept the charged droplets. An expression for the rate of charge acquisition by a water droplet in a field of coronal discharge is derived. The results obtained in flight with an instrument based on the method described indicate that continuous records of droplet-size spectrum variations in clouds can be obtained. The experimental instrument was used to evaluate the method and was not refined to the extent necessary for obtaining conclusive meteorological data. The desirable features of an instrument based on the method described are (i) The instrument can be used in clouds with temperatures above freezing; (2) the size and the shape of the cylinders do not change during the exposure time; (3) the readings are instantaneous and continuous; (4) the available sensitivity permits the study of variations in cloud structures of less than 200 feet in extent.

Description: A cascade impactor, an instrument for obtaining: the size distribution of droplets borne in a low-velocity air stream, was adapted for flight cloud droplet-size studies. The air containing the droplets was slowed down from flight speed by a diffuser to the inlet-air velocity of the impactor. The droplets that enter the impactor impinge on four slides coated with magnesium oxide. Each slide catches a different size range. The relation between the size of droplet impressions and the droplet size was evaluated so that the droplet-size distributions may be found from these slides. The magnesium oxide coating provides a permanent record. of the droplet impression that is not affected by droplet evaporation after the. droplets have impinged.

Description: A principle formerly used in an instrument for cloud detection was further investigated to provide a simple and rapid means for measuring the liquid-water content of clouds at temperatures above and below freezing. The instrument consists of a small cylindrical element so operated at high surface temperatures that the impingement of cloud droplets creates a significant drop in the surface temperature. ? The instrument is sensitive to a wide range of liquid-water content and was calibrated at one set of fixed conditions against rotating multicylinder measurements. The limited conditions of the calibration Included an air temperature of 20 F, an air velocity of 175 miles per hour, and a surface temperature in clear air of 475 F. The results obtained from experiments conducted with the instrument indicate that the principle can be used for measurements in clouds at temperatures above and below freezing. Calibrations for ranges of airspeed, air temperature, and air density will be necessary to adapt the Instrument for general flight use.

Description: Icing and drag investigations were conducted in the NACA Lewis icing research tunnel employing a combination thermal-pneumatic de-icer mounted on a 42-inch-chord NACA 0018 airfoil. The de-icer consisted of a 3-inch-wide electrically heated strip symmetrically located about the leading edge with inflatable tubes on the upper and lower airfoil surfaces aft of the heated area. The entire de-icer extended to approximately 25 percent of chord. A maximum power density of 9.25 watts per square inch was required for marginal ice protection on the airfoil leading edge at an air temperature of 00 F and an airspeed of 300 miles per hour. Drag measurements indicated, that without icing, the de-icer installation increased the section drag to approximately 140 percent of that of the bare airfoil; with the tubes inflated, this value increased to a maximum of approximately 620 percent. A 2-minute tube-inflation cycle prevented excessive ice formation on the inflatable area although small scattered residual Ice formations remained after inflation and were removed intermittently during later cycles. Effects of the time lag of heater temperatures after initial application of power and the insulating effect of ice formations on heater temperatures were also determined.

Description: The effect of modifying the gas passage of hollow metal airfoils by the additIon of internal fins and partitions was experimentally investigated and comparisons were made among a basic unfinned airfoil section and two airfoil designs having metal fins attached at the leading edge of the internal gas passage. An analysis considering the effects of heat conduction in the airfoil metal was made to determine the internal modification effectiveness that may be obtained in gas-heated components, such as turbojet-inlet guide vanes, support struts, hollow propeller blades, arid. thin wings. Over a wide range of heated-gas flow and tunnel-air velocity, the increase In surface-heating rates with internal finning was marked (up to 3.5 times), with the greatest increase occurring at the leading edge where anti-icing heat requirements are most critical. Variations in the amount and the location of internal finning and. partitioning provided. control over the local rates of surface heat transfer and permitted efficient anti-icing utilization of the gas-stream heat content.