© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Plaza del Pino, Juan CarlosTerroba, F.García Magariño, A.Atienza, R.Mora Nogués, JulioPlaza del Pino, Juan Carlos2025-01-172025-01-172024-08-07Applied Sciences 14(16): 10.3390/app14166928(2023)https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/16/6928http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12666/982Ice accretion on aircrafts due to atmospheric conditions is still a relevant research topic, especially in the case of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), due to their smaller size and the relative underdevelopment of ice protection systems (anti-icing and de-icing) for these aircraft. For the research and development of these systems, it is necessary to assess their performance in icing wind tunnels (IWTs), which are generally high-cost facilities. This article describes the design and building process of a new IWT for testing fixed-wing UAVs, aimed at cost reduction and restricted to an existing cold climate chamber of limited size. The designed IWT is an open-circuit type with two corners, a test section size of 0.40 m × 0.27 m and speed up to 70 m/s. The design process employs widely used and proven semi-empirical formulas, supported by detailed calculations using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools, to achieve a test section core of useful quality and avoid flow separation. Theoretical limits with respect to a usable droplet size and Liquid Water Content (LWC) are calculated, and the test section core is estimated. The design process followed proves to be a very good approach to the design and aerodynamic optimisation of a low-cost IWT.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Icing wind TunnelIWTUnmanned Aerial VehicleUAVLimited spaceLow costIcingDesigninfo:eu-repo/semantics/article10.3390/app141669282076-3417info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess