Manaf Muhammed disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap / Manaf Muhammed will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science.
Manaf Muhammed disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap og vil offentlig forsvare avhandlingen / Manaf Muhammed will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science:
“Study of In-Cloud Icing on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)”.
Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her / The doctoral thesis is available here.
Auditoriet er åpent for publikum. Disputasen vil også bli strømmet. Opptak av disputasen vil være tilgjengelig i en måned. / The auditorium is open to the public. The defense will be streamed. A recording of the defense will be available for one month.
Prøveforelesningen starter kl. 10:15 / The trial lecture starts at 10:15. Tittel / Title:
“The interplay between de-icing and the maintenance of UAVs”.
Disputasen starter kl. 12:15 / The defense starts at 12:15.
Prøveforelesning strømmes her, disputas strømmes her. / The trial lecture will be streamed here, and defense will be streamed here.
Sammendrag av avhandlingen / Summary of the thesis:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become essential tools across different industrial and social sectors in Arctic and high North regions in recent decades. However, their safe and reliable operation in harsh winter climate yet remains a major challenge particularly due to in-cloud icing. Rotary wing UAVs are especially vulnerable because of their prolonged hovering, complex geometric configuration, and low Reynolds number (Re) aerodynamics, which is different from manned aircraft and fixed-wing UAVs. This PhD research addresses key scientific knowledge gaps in low Re UAV ice accretion physics through comprehensive literature review, multiphase numerical modelling, and lab based experimental investigations. Computational fluid dynamics based numerical studies on the RG-15 airfoil , suitable for UAV, show that while existing numerical solvers can reasonably predict rime ice at low Re, the solvers still struggle with the complex multiphase behavior of mixed and glaze ice, highlighting the need for improved turbulence and transition modelling to capture laminar and ice-induced separation bubbles.
For further understanding, extensive lab-based icing experiments were conducted on a high-lift S1223 UAV airfoil, revealing rapid formation of feather-like roughness in rime ice and complex horn and icicle structures in glaze ice, leading to the significant aerodynamic degradation and reductions of 18-46% in endurance and 13-40% in range. Complementary UAV propeller icing experiments showed strong sensitivity of ice morphology and performance losses to liquid water content, droplet size, atmospheric temperature, and propeller rotational speed, with 3D scanned ice shapes supporting numerical validation. Finally, the performance of the surface coatings as passive mitigation strategies was assessed, showing that while superhydrophobic coatings can increase glaze ice penalties on cambered airfoils, this substantially reduced overall iced area. This also promotes earlier ice shedding. This research work comprehensively provided an insight of UAV icing physics for both fixed wing and rotating wing UAVs. These outcomes will help the researchers to further explore this topic, where a significant knowledge gap still exists.
Veiledere / Supervisors:
Hovedveileder / Main supervisor:
Professor Muhammad Shakeel Virk, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Biveileder / Co-supervisor:
As. Professor Hassan Abbas Khawaja, Department of Automation and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway,
Bedømmelseskomité / Evaluation committee:
Prøveforelesning og disputas ledes av prodekan for forskning, Svein-Erik Sveen / The trial lecture and defense are led by Vice Dean of research, Svein-Erik Sveen.
De som ønsker å opponere ex auditorio kan sende e-post til Svein-Erik Sveen / Opponents ex auditorio should contact Svein-Erik Sveen.