TRACES JD is a European Joint Doctorate network focused on providing advanced training in in-flight icing. Its goal is to develop a new generation of high-achieving Doctoral Researchers (DRs) across various disciplines essential for understanding and mitigating ice formation on aircraft and aeroengines. The network's objectives are as follows:
- Joint Doctorate in icing sciences and technologies: To establish a unique joint doctoral program at top EU universities, offering comprehensive training across all disciplines needed to address the physical and technological challenges of in-flight icing for the first time. This includes certification and insights from the aerospace industry. It will lay the foundation for joint doctorate agreements that extend beyond the TRACES JD project, impacting research in aviation and other fields affected by icing, such as wind energy, ground and maritime transportation, and civil engineering.
- Icing physics and modeling: To provide academia and industry with numerical and experimental tools that enhance understanding of the ice accretion process by focusing on physics beyond previous projects. This includes the material properties of ice particles and layers, the effects of liquid-film dynamics and ice-induced roughness on ice buildup, and the uncertainties in operating parameters and icing models. Furthermore, it aims to incorporate new models into numerical tools for simulating complex aeronautical applications, utilizing this improved knowledge to explore conditions that were previously unresolved due to a lack of fundamental understanding.
- Safety in icing conditions: To develop tools and best practices for measuring how ice growth impacts the performance and handling of aircraft, helicopters, engines, and micro UAVs. The goal is to design innovative ice probes and disruptive Ice Protection Systems (IPS) based on new, untested technologies for industry, maintaining high safety standards while reducing the environmental impact of air travel.
- Virtual certification: To promote a “certification culture' early in the development of new in-flight icing technologies and foster collaboration among academia, industry, and certification authorities, building trust in numerical tools for virtual certification—i.e. certification by analysis rather than testing. This approach aims to enable timely, cost-effective certification under icing conditions.
- Sustainable research: To build on the legacy of current EU-led projects on in-flight icing by training future icing researchers through both fundamental and applied studies. The aim is to keep EU aircraft and engine manufacturers competitive by developing researchers with a multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral mindset capable of delivering certifiable solutions.
This will be achieved through a unique combination of hands-on research training, non-academic secondments, and courses and workshops on scientific and soft skills, facilitated by the diverse academic and non-academic partners in the consortium. Certification authorities will provide training on certification procedures, and together with leading industry partners, will evaluate DR projects during a team Design & Certify exercise.
