Collision mechanism of unmanned aerial vehicles onto glass panels

Abstract

The international standards for safety glass design have been limited to the use of a soft body impactor representing a human body to estimate the accidental collision resistance. However, UAVs have recently emerged as a new collision source due to their increasingly widespread use. An evaluation protocol for UAV collision is required to secure the safety of the glass used for structural cladding. In this paper, the collision mechanism of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) onto glass panels is investigated by conducting experiments. We evaluate the impact forces of UAV collision on the glass panels and verify the numerical simulations by comparing the resultant forces from the experiments. Using the verified numerical simulation, 72 different collision conditions (changing the impact angles and velocities, respectively) are modeled, including extreme collision conditions that could be infeasible in the real experiments under manual control. Through this study, complicated collision mechanisms are clarified and elucidated. Additionally, specific collision conditions that induce maximum and minimum threats are identified, which should assist the design of future structural cladding glass systems and the UAV operation discipline in urban areas.