Ice accretion on high-lift systems reduces lift, increases drag and can lead to unsafe operating conditions. In conventional aircraft, ice protection is usually provided by hot bleed air from the engines. However, this method is energetically costly and not feasible in more-electric or fully electric aircraft. Therefore, ice protection systems for more-electric and fully-electric aircraft must work with bleedless systems and limited power available. In this context, hybrid de-icing concepts that combine electrothermal heating with electromechanical excitation are a promising option.
This work presents a simulation strategy for a hybrid de-icing system for a slat that incorporates an electro-impulse de-icing (EIDI) system alongside structural electrothermal heating. In this framework, ice shedding is modelled using a temperature-dependent cohesive zone formulation at the ice–structure interface combined with a brittle cracking model in the ice, representing crack initiation and fragmentation. Embedded resistance heaters are represented by prescribed heat input in defined zones, generating transient temperature fields. These fields, together with temperature-dependent material properties, link the thermal and mechanical analyses.
The simulations demonstrate that the hybrid concept resolves the conflict between thermal and mechanical de-icing methods. Modest, localized electrothermal heating reduces ice adhesion, enabling EIDI to achieve near-thermal shedding performance using less energy than thermal-only operation. Further improvements in efficiency are achieved through the selective activation of heater zones, which reduces the required impulse levels and structural loading while avoiding the very high energy input of fully thermal systems and the limited de-icing of purely mechanical approaches. Overall, the framework provides a basis for designing and optimizing hybrid ice protection systems in terms of energy demand and de-icing efficiency. This supports the integration of effective ice protection systems into more- and fully electric aircraft.