An experimental study was conducted to characterize the dynamic ice accretion process on the rotating propeller blades of a multi-rotor Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicle (UAV) in forward flight and to evaluate the aerodynamic penalties induced by the ice accretion under various icing conditions. The experiments were conducted in an Icing Research Tunnel available at Iowa State University with a UAV propeller model exposed to glaze and rime icing conditions typically encountered by UAVs flying in low-altitude airspace. During the experiments, while a synchronized high-speed imaging approach was employed to acquire “phase-locked” images to reveal the dynamic ice accretion process over rotating propeller blades under different icing conditions, a high-resolution 3D scanning system was utilized to characterize the 3D shapes the ice structures accreted on the blades at the ends of the icing experiments. Simultaneous measurements of generated thrust force and power consumption characteristics of the propeller model were also performed to evaluate the icing-induced performance deteriorations. The acquired ice accretion images were correlated with the quantitative measurements of 3D shapes of the accreted ice structures, time evolution of the generated thrust force and power consumption characteristics of the propeller model to elucidate underlying icing physics. The high-quality, quantitative measurement results can also be used to validate/verify theoretical ice accretion models and numerical simulations for more accurate predictions of UAV inflight icing phenomena. © 2026 Elsevier Masson SAS.

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