3-D ice shape measurements using mid-infrared laser scanning

Abstract

A general approach based on mid-infrared (MIR) laser scanning is proposed to measure the 3-D ice shape no matter whether the ice is composed of clear ice, rime ice, mixed ice, or even supercooled water droplets or films. This is possible because MIR radiation penetrates ice and water only within a depth of less than 10 micrometers. First, an MIR laser point scanning technique is implemented and verified on transparent glass and clear ice. Then, to improve efficiency, an MIR laser line scanning method is developed and validated on different models. At last, several sequential MIR laser line scans are applied to trace the 3-D shape evolution of the continuous ice accretion on an airfoil in an icing wind tunnel. The ice growth process can be well observed in the results. The MIR scan shows a good agreement with the traditional visible laser scan on a plastic replication of the final ice shape made by the mold and casting method.