Joint Austrian In-flight Icing Research Venture 2020+

During the past 10 years a number of Austrian organizations have developed remarkable skills and competencies in the area of aircraft in-flight icing. These achievements were only possible on the basis of a considerable number of R&D-projects which were funded – to a significant extent – by the FFG. The competencies built up by the Austrian icing community over the years comprise the following technical fields and activities: - Advancement of icing wind tunnel infrastructure - Execution of experiments in simulated icing conditions - Numerical simulation – primarily with the aid of in-house codes – of icing, anti-icing and de-icing processes - Development of ice protection systems (IPS), e.g., hybrid systems combining thermal and mechanical sub-systems as well as icephobic/superhydrophobic coatings - Documentation of icing tests with the aid of high-resolution optical methods including roughness evaluations of ice surfaces - Development of ice detection systems - High precision polymer-based replicas of ice shapes; these replicas can be used for high-accuracy measurements of ice-induced aerodynamic effects in ordinary aerodynamic wind tunnels In the current flagship project JOICE two types of goals are specified: “Strategic” goals on the one hand, and “technical” goals on the other hand. The formulation of distinct strategic goals is due to the flagship character of JOICE: The current FFG-call for a flagship project as well as the strategic goals of JOICE were already pronounced in the national icing strategy “Enteisungsstrategie für den österreichischen Luftfahrtsektor 2030+” elaborated by the Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie2 in 2018. The strategic goals of JOICE are the following: - Pooling of the national stakeholder’s competencies in the area of in-flight icing - Increase of the international visibility of the Austrian icing community - Extension and deepening of the Austrian stakeholder’s competencies in in-flight aircraft icing The realization of these strategic goals in JOICE is achieved through the following “Top Level Goals” which form the technical backbone of the project: - Provision of comprehensive numerical and experimental simulation methods for the development of IPS in CS-25 Appendix C, O and snow icing conditions - Demonstration of highly energy-efficient hybrid IPS for UAV and small and medium-sized aircraft for inadvertent flight in icing conditions - Development/extension of a comprehensive experimental 3D validation data base for numerical ice accretion simulation tools in Appendix C, O and snow icing conditions The technical activities arising out of these goals are performed by a consortium consisting of 15 organisations, and the very tight and comprehensive work plan is subdivided into many tasks and subtasks. With respect to the first and second Top Level Goal also certification aspects will be considered rigorously in JOICE.