Steady-State Electro-Thermal Anti-Icing (ABP)

This Application Best Practice (ABP) provides guidance on simulating anti-icing systems using steady-state electro-thermal methods in Ansys Fluent® fluid simulation software.

Learning Outcomes:

Following completion of this Application Best Practice (ABP), you will be able to:

• Describe the overall workflow for steady-state electro-thermal anti-icing simulations in Ansys Fluent software and Ansys FENSAP-ICE™ in-flight aircraft icing simulation, including geometry preparation, meshing, and solver setup
• Prepare and mesh models appropriately for anti-icing analysis by exporting fluid and solid grids separately, generating high-quality tetrahedral meshes, and applying best practice meshing techniques
• Set up and configure simulation parameters, including proper boundary and interface naming, heater zones, physical models (such as viscous heating), and solver settings relevant to anti-icing
• Integrate weather and particle modeling (e.g., choosing correct icing environments, droplet and crystal parameters) to simulate realistic snow and icing scenarios
• Analyze simulation results, interpret ice shape predictions and heat flux distributions, and compute IPS load conditions to evaluate anti-icing performance
• Apply troubleshooting tips and additional resources to ensure robust, efficient, and accurate anti-icing simulations and support continued learning

Prerequisites:

• Previous experience using and applying Ansys Fluent CFD solver
• Previous training is recommended for:
  • FENSAP-ICE
  • Meshing
  • Basic Fluent functionality

Please note: These training materials were developed and tested in the 2021R2 release.

Application Best Practices (ABPs) outline engineering design goals for specific applications and provide guidance for how to achieve those goals using Ansys simulation software. It is important to note that a Geometry File or other Input Files are not always available. ABPs, as opposed to the official training-material workshops/tutorials, are not meant to be a step-by-step instruction document. ABPs are a link between product-based training courses and application specific tutorials, educating on the "how" and "why" of the best modeling approach, highlighting best practices and workflows for a particular application.