Numerical analysis of anti-bird strike performance in structural connection design for a vertical tail leading edge

Abstract This work conducted numerical analysis of the anti-bird strike behaviors for an in-design leading edge part assembled on an amphibian's vertical tail to evaluate the lapped relations between structural components. A coupled SPH-FE modelling method was exploited. SPH particle and thin-walled shell element discretization schemes were identified via the numerical convergence analysis of modelling the impact of a cylindrical soft body on a fixed rectangular plate. A novel dynamic failure criterion taking account of multi-axial stress states and high strain rate was adopted to improve the numerical accuracy of progressively structural damage in bird-strike process. Gas gun experiment was carried out to check the validity of the design configuration and the SPH-FE model for the leading edge part, which showed a good coincidence with the numerical result. Furthermore, for the improvement of the anti-bird strike performance, a lapped relation between two members inside the structure was suggested thru the numerical analysis.