A numerical model for bird strike on sidewall structure of an aircraft nose

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Abstract

In order to examine the potential of using the coupled smooth particles hydrodynamic (SPH) and finite element (FE) method to predict the dynamic responses of aircraft structures in bird strike events, bird-strike tests on the sidewall structure of an aircraft nose are carried out and numerically simulated. The bird is modeled with SPH and described by the Murnaghan equation of state, while the structure is modeled with finite elements. A coupled SPH–FE method is developed to simulate the bird-strike tests and a numerical model is established using a commercial software PAM-CRASH. The bird model shows no signs of instability and correctly modeled the break-up of the bird into particles. Finally the dynamic response such as strains in the skin is simulated and compared with test results, and the simulated deformation and fracture process of the sidewall structure is compared with images recorded by a high speed camera. Good agreement between the simulation results and test data indicates that the coupled SPH–FE method can provide a very powerful tool in predicting the dynamic responses of aircraft structures in events of bird strike.

Keywords

Bird strike
Experiment
Sidewall structure
Simulation
Smooth particles hydrodynamic (SPH) method

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Liu Jun received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University in 2003, 2006 and 2009 respectively. He is now a lecturer in the same institution. His main research interests are impact mechanics and numerical simulation.

Li Yulong received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University in 1982, 1985 and 1991 respectively. He is a Cheung Kong Scholar special professor in Northwestern Polytechnical University. His main research interests are impact mechanics and numerical simulation.

Gao Xiaosheng received his B.S. degree in engineering mechanics in 1987 and M.S. degree in solid mechanics in 1990 from Xi’an Jiaotong University, and received his Ph.D. degree in solid mechanics from Brown University in 1998. He is currently a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA and a fellow of ASME. His main research interests are mechanics of materials and structures, fatigue and fracture mechanics, and computational mechanics.

Peer review under responsibility of Editorial Committee of CJA.

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