Abstract
In spite of potential advantages for aircraft structures, composite laminates can be subjected to bird-strike hazard in civil aviation. For purpose of future surrogate experiments, in this study, impact-damage equivalency for twisted composite blades is numerically investigated by Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and finite element method (FEM). Cantilever slender flat plates are usually used for basic impact tests, the impact-damage equivalency is being considered by comparing damage modes and energies of three impact configurations: (1) twisted blade; (2) flat blade (axisymmetric); and (3) inclined flat blade (centrosymmetric). The damage maps and energy variations were comparatively investigated. Results indicate that both symmetrical flat and inclined flat blades can be, to a certain extent, regarded as alternatives for real twisted blades under bird impact; however, both types of blade have their own merits and drawbacks, and hence should be used carefully. These results aim to serve as tentative design guideline for future prototype or model experimental study of laminated blades in real aeronautical structures.
Highlights
Since the beginning of aviation history, bird-strike events have become an increasingly serious and catastrophic issue for aircraft structures [1], for aircraft safety below 3000 feet from the ground
Bird impacts with high kinetic energy can produce severe intra-laminar damages, e.g., fiber breakage could probably lead to catastrophic failure of overall laminated structures and threaten breakage and containment matrix cracking
The total contact forces generated in the three models along the impact direction are compared in Hereto, simulation results revealed some important laws for the damage distributions, damage energies, and contact forces in the different blade-like configurations
Summary
Since the beginning of aviation history, bird-strike events have become an increasingly serious and catastrophic issue for aircraft structures [1], for aircraft safety below 3000 feet from the ground. For aeronautical structures in civil aviation industry, the crashworthiness ability to withstand bird strike has been regulated by airworthiness certification requirements. The front-facing components of aircraft susceptible to bird strikes, mainly refer to the engine fan blades [2,3,4], windshield [5,6,7,8], wing leading edge section [9,10,11], wing flaps [12,13], and other auxiliary units, etc. Thanks to good performance and high efficiency, composite laminates have been more and more exploited as key materials for the engine primary structures, e.g., the fan blades of high-bypass ratio engines in the modern commercial aircraft, which can offer the potential for reducing the weight of civil aircrafts. Bird-strike certification compliance against impact-induced damage should be considered [20], e.g., according to FAR Part 25
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