An experimental study on the dynamic ice accretion processes on bridge cables with different surface modifications.

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the dynamic ice accretion processes on bridge cables with different surface modifications (i.e., 1. Standard plain, 2. Pattern-indented surface, and 3. Helical fillets). An Icing Research Tunnel available at Iowa State University (i.e., ISU-IRT) was used to generate two typical icing conditions (i.e., dry rime icing vs. wet glaze icing). During the experiments, while a high-speed imaging system was used to capture the transient behaviors of surface water transport and dynamic ice accretion processes over the surfaces of the cable models, a high-accuracy force measurement system was utilized to quantify the dynamic aerodynamic loadings acting on the cable models under different icing conditions. It was found that the addition of surface features (i.e., pattern-indented surface and helical fillets) could dramatically influence the dynamic ice accretion process and the final topology of the ice structures accreted on the cable surfaces. While the ice accretion on the standard plain cable and the cable with helical fillets was found to reduce the drag forces by about 25%, the ice accretion on the pattern-indented cable model would induce about 30% greater aerodynamic drag force acting on the cable model. • Transient details of the icing processes on different bridge cable models were revealed. • Effects of different surface modifications on the ice accretion process were evaluated. • The drag force evolution of bridge cables during icing process were examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]