The aim of the present paper is to consider the use of PIV technique in an industrial icing wind tunnel and the potentiality/advantages of applying PIV technique to this specific field. Scope of icing wind tunnels is to simulate the aircraft flight condition through cloud formations. In this operational condition ice accretions appear on the aircraft exposed surfaces due to the impact of the water droplets present in the clouds and the subsequent solidification. The investigation of aircraft

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... odynamic performances and flight safety in icing condition is a fundament aspect in the phase of design, development and certification of new aircrafts. The description of this peculiar ground testing facility is reported. The assessment of PIV in CIRA-IWT has been investigated. Several technological problems have been afforded and solved developing the components of the measurement system, as the laser system and the recording apparatus, both fully remotely controlled, equipped with several traversing mechanism and protected by the adverse environment conditions (temperature and pressure). The adopted solutions are described. Furthermore a complete test campaign on a full scale aircraft wing tip, equipped with moving slat and deicing system has been carried out by PIV. Two regions have been investigated. The wing leading edge area has been studied with and without ice accretion and for different cloud characteristics. The model was settled in high lift condition with extended slat and medium angle of attack. Scope of this measurement is detecting the droplet trajectories, evaluate the collection efficiency, evaluate the aerodynamic flow field distortion due to the ice formation on the extended slat region. The second region was aimed to investigate the wing wake behaviour. The measurements were aimed to characterise the wake for the model in cruise condition and null angle of attack without ice formation and during the ice formation in order to evaluate the drag coefficient increasing by the evaluation of the loss of momentum.