Hot-air anti-icing characteristics and anti-icing structures of a zero-stage guide vane

When an aero engine operates under icing conditions, the windward surfaces of its intake components, such as the zero-stage guide vane, are prone to icing, posing a potential flight safety hazard. In this study, we establish a computational model for hot-air anti-icing of a full-scale zero-stage guide vane based on CFX and FENSAP-ICE software and conduct a numerical study on three-dimensional coupled heat transfer for anti-icing and the improvement of anti-icing structures. The computational results demonstrate that under anti-icing conditions, the lowest temperature is observed at the root of the leading edge of the guide vane. Icing predominantly occurs in the water droplets impinging on the area downstream of the stagnation point on the guide vane and in proximity to the root of the suction surface, with ice reaching a maximum thickness of ∼7.21 mm. When the hot-air inlet is shifted toward the leading edge and a deflector is introduced, the anti-icing surface temperature is elevated, the icing area is slightly reduced, and the total ice mass is decreased by ∼14.7% compared to the original model. Furthermore, after designing opening holes near the root of the suction surface to allow the hot air to flow out, the temperature on the guide vane’s surface is significantly increased, and the temperature gradient is reduced. The icing area is markedly decreased, with the maximum ice thickness reduced by ∼3.3 mm, and the total ice mass further decreased by about 33.1%.