Bird strike simulation on a novel composite leading edge design

Abstract

A methodology for the numerical simulation of bird strike on a novel Leading Edge (LE) structure of a Horizontal Tail Plane is presented. The innovative LE design is based on the ‘tensor skin’ concept, comprising one or more folded composite sub-laminates, which unfold during the bird impact providing high-energy absorption characteristics. The simulation technique is based on a non-linear dynamic Finite Element (FE) analysis and is performed in three steps. The first step deals with the development of suitable material damage models capable to represent the high strain rate behaviour of the composite systems used in the LE structure. The second step deals with the development of a FE modelling procedure for simulating the complex failure modes and unfolding mechanisms of quasi-static penetration of simple ‘tensor skin’ strips, representative of the complete LE composite structure. The third step deals with the numerical simulation of bird strike experiments on two novel aircraft LE designs. The influence on the numerical results of the critical modelling issues, such as, the mesh density of the highly impacted areas, the substitute bird flexibility, as well as, the material damage and contact interfaces parameters are discussed in detail. The numerical results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement to the results of the experimental tests.