30 Aug 2024
Thermofluids DPhil Student Wins AIAA Award for Ice Crystal Research
Thomas Cross, a second-year DPhil Student, was recognised with the Best Student Paper Award in Atmospheric and Space Environments at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aviation Forum in Las Vegas. His paper focused on ice crystal icing in jet engines, a critical area for aircraft safety.
Photo credit: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Thomas received the award for his study, "A Finite Element-Based Fracture Model for the Prediction of Shedding in Ice Crystal Icing", developed with support from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Rolls-Royce through the collaborative Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Future Propulsion & Power. The paper sets out a new workflow to compute the amount and location of ice shed inside a jet engine, building on previous experimental work conducted at the National Research Council of Canada.
“The conference was a great opportunity to connect with others in the field and share what we've been working on for the past two years.”
The study is part of The Department’s ongoing partnerships with Derby-based engineering firm Rolls-Royce Plc. aiming develop methods to characterise icing incidents and permit the design safer next-generation jet engines. This award marks the second time in recent years that a DPhil student from the icing group has been awarded this best paper award at AIAA with a previous DPhil Student attaining the accolade in 2018.
Tom says “We've had about a decade of research activities at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute, looking into tackling the problem of high-altitude icing within engines of commercial aircraft in collaboration with Rolls-Royce. This is part of an effort to meet new air worthiness requirements for the next generation of fuel-efficient jet engines.
“It is reassuring to receive feedback from the icing community that this work has been of value and that we are on the right track with the likes of NASA, ONERA in France and the National Research Council of Canada.”
The paper was co-authored by Professor Matthew McGilvray, Professor David R. H. Gillespie and Dr Natan Zawadzki from The Oxford Thermofluids Institute, Department of Engineering Science. This award is the second for The Oxford Thermofluids Institute from AIAA this year, as DPhil Student, Mailys Buquet gained the same award from the AIAA Ground Testing Technical Committee at the AIAA SciTech Conference in Orlando in January.
