DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF AN AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE PANEL AGAINST BIRD STRIKE

The threat of bird strike in aviation has become a significant problem. Bird strikes can cause serious costs and loss of life. In order for aircraft structures to survive bird strike accidents without any damage, tests and finite element (FE) analyses are carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations. In this study, design optimization of a composite panel of a national combat aircraft structure is carried out against bird strike. First, an existing study from the literature is replicated as a preliminary step to ensure our FE modeling capability. Next, an FE model is generated to simulate the bird strike to a composite panel of a national combat aircraft structure. Then, generated FE model is used to determine the optimum design configuration of the composite panel. Finally, the optimum design configuration is manufactured, and bird strike tests are performed at a gas gun facility using gelatin artificial birds. It is observed that the designed composite panel shows good collision performance and the FE model results is consistent with the bird strike test results.