Experimental investigation on de-icing by an array of impact rod-type plasma synthetic jets

Since flight accidents due to aircraft icing occur from time to time, this paper proposes an array of impact rod-type plasma synthetic jet de-icing methods for aircraft icing problems. The impact rod-type plasma synthetic jet actuator (PSJA) is based on the traditional PSJA with an additional impact rod structure for better de-icing in the flight environment. In this work, we first optimize the ice-breaking performance of a single-impact rod-type PSJA, and then conduct an array of impact rod-type plasma synthetic jet ice-breaking experiments to investigate the relationship between crack expansion and discharge energy, ice thickness and group spacing. The results show that the impact force and impulse of a single-impact rod-type PSJA are proportional to the discharge energy, and there exists a threshold energy Q_min for a single actuator to break the ice, which is proportional to the ice thickness. Only when the discharge energy reaches above Q_min can the ice layer produce cracks, and at the same time, the maximum radial crack length produced during the ice-breaking process is proportional to the discharge energy. When the ice is broken by an array of impact rod PSJAs, the discharge energy and group spacing together determine whether the crack can be extended to the middle region of the actuator. When the group spacing is certain, increasing the energy can increase the intersection of cracks in the middle region, and the ice-fragmentation degree is increased and the ice-breaking effect is better. At the same time, the energy estimation method of ice breaking by an array of impact rod-type PSJAs is proposed according to the law when a single actuator is breaking ice.