Hydrothermodynamics of water film, rivulets, and droplets on the surface of a streamlined body applying to the problem of icing

The results of a physicomathematical and numerical analysis of the dynamics and heat transfer of liquid fragments entrained by an air flow along the surface of a solid are presented. The successive phenomena of film breakup into rivulets and of these rivulets into droplets are considered as a single process. An integral criterion, taking into account the total momentum of accelerating forces, is proposed to localize these breakups. The droplet freezing point is estimated based on the authors' previous work. The developed algorithm made it possible to predict the onset of icing on aircraft structural elements and the nature of the ice topography formed during flight conditions and ground experiments.