System study in the fluid-dynamic field inside an airplane de-icing leading edge

The incredible technological evolution undergone by metal additive manufacturing in recent years has allowed its introduction into aerospace construction processes, enabling the creation of 3D-printed structures whose characteristics are improved in a targeted and selective manner. This innovative construction process has led to the enormous advantage of being able to create complex structures by inserting trabecular structures inside them, whose shape and size of the elementary cells have a marked influence on the thermal and mechanical performance of the structure as a whole, thus moving to a deterministic control of the material characteristics compared to classic metal foams. The aim of the thesis work is to develop an innovative system, anti-ice that allows the achievement of better characteristics of lightness and thermal performance. The innovation brought by this work lies in the use of an innovative prototype of leading edge patented by the Politecnico di Torino [1], which uses the metallic additive manufacturing to create trabecular structures within the same. The analysis has been conducted through the CFD Star-ccm+ software produced by Siemens, performing a simulation campaign on different CAD models of the prototype to highlight the fluid dynamic field inside and the phenomena of heat exchange. The aim of the analysis has been to make a trade off on the densities of the trabecular structures that can be used for the CAD construction of the prototype and to identify the best distribution within it. Within the work have been highlighted the numerous problems that have emerged in using highly complex structures, within CFD software. The final purpose of this work is to lay concrete foundations to be able to further refine the knowledge in this regard, which can lead to the final construction of the prototype of the leading edge.