Three-dimensional numerical simulation of transient heat transfer occurring in electrothermal deicing systems

This dissertation examines three-dimensional transient heat transfer in a multilayered body which is ice covered. The physical application studied is the process of melting and removal of ice from aircraft components by use of electrothermal heaters. In order to numerically model the ice phase change, a predictor-corrector technique is used which assumes a phase for each ice gridpoint. This allows the use of the Method of Douglas, which is a three-dimensional, alternating direction numerical solver, to iteratively converge on the correct phase of each ice node. Verification of the code is discussed by comparing results with those of previous one-dimensional and two-dimensional studies. Three-dimensional results are presented and the usefulness of the code as a design tool is illustrated. A review of the experimental work performed on electrothermal deicer systems at the NASA Lewis Icing Research Tunnel is given. Comparisons of experimental versus numerical results are discussed. The computer program developed is general enough that its use can be extended to a variety of three-dimensional transient heat transfer problems, such as phase change problems and anisotropic or laminated material applications.