Numerical study of bird strike impact testing on the wing section of 80 passenger aircraft using explicit dynamic finite element method

Abstract

Bird Strike Impact is a phenomenon that occurs when one or a flock of birds crashes into an airplane, causing damage to the aircraft structure, especially during the take-off and landing phases. One of the aircraft components that experience the most cases of bird impact and catastrophic consequences is the wing. This paper deals with a numerical simulation using the explicit-dynamic Finite Element Method (FEM) on bird impact testing on wing leading edge of the 80 passenger aircraft referring to CASR (Civil Aviation Safety Regulation) Part 25. The bird modeled as an impactor used is simplified into a cylinder with a uni material hemisphere with a mass of 1.82 kg (4 lbs). The leading edge specimen as the target used is a wing section attached to the rigging. The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) formulation approach is used in modeling birds as fluids with soft body characteristics. The speed of the bird relative to the aircraft is 145 m/s. The thickness and the material of the skin component was varied to reduced the reaction force of the frontal leading edge. The 2 mm of skin thickness with combined Al 7075-T6 and Al 2024-T3 has the lowest reaction force, namely 50 kN. This research conclude that the structure thickness variable gave a significant difference in maximum deflection and the reaction force compared to the material used.