Experimental Investigation of Vertical Marine Surface Icing in Periodic Spray and Cold Conditions

Abstract

In this paper, the ice load accumulated on a vertical plate of marine platforms during periodic spray icing in a cold room was investigated experimentally. The mass and thickness of ice formation on the plate along with several parameters such as relative humidity, the front and back surface temperatures of the vertical plate, initial temperature of water, and the spray mass flux impinging on the plate were measured and discussed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), which is a statistical data analysis method, was utilized to interpret the contribution of the investigated parameters during the icing experiments, comparing the effect of each parameter and their interactions on the quantity of ice accumulated on the vertical plate. The primary analysis of the empirical results illustrates that the ambient temperature, airflow velocity, the distance between the fan and the plate, salinity and the timing of spray events have influences in the icing intensity and the amount of ice formation on the vertical plate. The errors between the average ice thicknesses obtained from two different experimental approaches were from 5 to 20%. For the saline ice formation, the temperature difference between the front and back of the vertical plate was greater than that of the pure ice formed during the spray icing event. The primary experimental results alongside the ANOVA analysis verified that airflow velocity is the most effective parameter, with a high level of interaction for time and temperature.