A review of the bird impact process and validation of the SPH impact model for aircraft structure

The aim of this paper is to study the phenomenon of the bird strike during each phase of the impact and write the governing equations in a numerical model to predict the entire behaviour, so as to define the best practices for a structural component resistant to a birdstrike. Validating the experimental test results presented by Barber and Wilbeck in 1975 with small birds impacting a rigid flat panel, in addition, two papers Guida et al. considering first a 8lb bird model impacting on a deformable small leading-edge bay, and then with the same bird model impacting on the leading-edge full scale, the SPH bird model is developed and validated in the finite element analysis. In this work the hydrodynamic theory is applied where the shock pressure (Hugoniot), the shock equation of state, the steady flow pressure at the stagnation point, and the steady state equation are determined for water with different porosities, and the bird-structure is analysed for different geometries of the bird and target model. The final goal allowed to design a critical component of an aircraft structure like the leading edge installed on the C27J aircraft tailcone withstanding a bird impact as requested by the current aviation airworthiness requirements.