An experimental investigation of the melting process of an ice bead in a hot shear flow.

In the present study, we report for the first time the observations of the melting process of an ice bead in a hot shear flow. During the experiment, a water droplet was first deposited onto a glass surface. Then, the surface temperature was cooled down to a desirable subfreezing value by a constant temperature bath circulator and the water droplet turned into an ice bead. After that, the ice bead was exposed to a hot shear flow and its melting process was recorded by two cameras. The results showed that, both the air flow speed and substrate surface temperature had significant effects on the melting process of the ice bead. The increase of the air flow speed resulted in a significant change of the runback phenomenon of the liquid water generated from the melting ice bead. Besides, as the decrease of the substrate surface temperature, the deicing time of the ice bead increased apparently. In addition, during the melting process of the ice bead, the temperatures of two characteristic points along the centerline demonstrated apparent differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]