Hoar frost effects on aerofoil efficiency
 

After a thread in Private Flying, I wondered if anyone had any pointers to any practical research on how and why a frost coated wing is reduced in efficiency. Especially the differences between a laminar flow wing and a more conventional design on a piston light aircraft.

Thanks...

Try this source

http://icebox-esn.grc.nasa.gov/

It is exactly the frost which makes for unpredictable loss of cl (lift) and increase of cd (drag). To properly determine the impact a granularity must be defined and then tested in the wind-tunnel.

So, the best is stick to the "clean wing" principle and add that extra time to properly de-ice even the slightest touch of the winter fairy. ;)

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