Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Analytical methods are developed and applied to droplet motion, as it relates to aircraft icing. Impinging droplets largely affect the heat balance at an iced aircraft surface, as well as the final ice shape. In this study, a similarity solution of the Eulerian droplet momentum equation is developed. Droplet motion near a flat plate is investigated with a similarity solution. By using scaling, sensitivity, order of magnitude and similarity methods, a momentum displacement of droplets (or particles) due to the presence of the solid surface is predicted. Self similarity of the droplet profiles is established, such that downstream propagation can be expressed in terms of a single independent coordinate. Limiting trends of momentum/drag induced and Blasius‐diffusion profiles are found to identify the spatial range encompassing the droplet motion. The predicted results are successfully compared against the scaling requirements.</jats:p>