Numerical simulation of bird strike on a S-Shaped stealth inlet

Abstract

Bird strike is a great threat to the safety of aircraft. The bird’s collision with the aero engine may lead to engine power loss, fires. Large blade debris in high-speed produced by the collision could even cause the disaster of aircraft crush. In this paper, the simulations of the bird striking a S-shaped inlet and blades were carried out to study the influences of the inlet to the blade’s capability of crashworthiness. Besides, the influences of bird’s incidence pitch angles to the bird strike inlet was studied. In the simulation, the SPH method and the linear Mie–Grüneisen equation of state were used in ABAQUS/Explicit to describe the bird’s fluid-like behavior during the bird strike events. The SPH method and the material model were verified by simulating the bird strike on rigid plate. Compared the simulation of the bird strike on fan blades with and without a S-shaped inlet, which could not only weaken the bird’s after-impact kinetic energy but also make the bird crush into pieces. Both of them can enable the engine fan blades withstand a heavier bird impact.