Date of Award

12-2000

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Iskender Sahin

Second Advisor

Arthur Hoadley

Third Advisor

Dr. Kasim Biber

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This thesis presents work on a Normalized Lift Coefficient instrumentation system that predicts airfoil stall in icing conditions. The system uses four surface pressures, measured aft of the ice formation, from which the aircraft's normalized lift coefficient is determined. The pressure port locations were selected such that the calibration algorithm remains nearly constant as the leading edge ice shape and thickness change. Data collected in the Western Michigan University Wind Tunnel is presented for three ice formations varying in both shape and thickness. The ice and no ice conditions were compared and a set of four ports was found that holds the calibration algorithm nearly constant regardless of ice configuration. An error analysis was also performed to determine the validity of the data. A program called LEWICE developed at NASA Glenn was also used to computationally analyze what is happening to the four ports that were found through the wind tunnel testing.

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