Numerical investigation on heat transfer and melting process of ice with different porosities

- Ice is treated as a porous medium with different porosities.
- A melting model is implemented to solve the ice melting process.
- The solid-liquid interface is tracked by enthalpy-porosity formulation.
- The melting process of the ice with different porosities is investigated.
- The effect of natural convection in the ice melting process is considered.

The density of ice changes with icing conditions. The ice with different densities can be treated as a porous medium with different porosities. Porosity affects the ice melting process. A melting model based on the enthalpy-porosity method is applied to study the effects of porosity on the ice melting process and heat transfer. An electrothermal de-icing system is used to investigate the melting process of ice with different porosities. The transient process of ice melting is investigated, including the change of ice-water interface, the melted ice volume and the melted ice area on the surface. The effects of porosity on the temperature distribution of the ice-airfoil surface are analyzed. The effect of natural convection on ice melting process is also considered in this study. The results show that the porosity affects the temperature distribution of the ice melting zone, melting rate, melting ice area on the surface and melting ice volume significantly. The melting rate, melting ice area on the surface and melting ice volume in the ice melting process are all rise with the increase of porosity under the same heating condition. The investigation shows that the enthalpy-porosity method can describe the ice melting process more accurately.