CRASHWORTHY DESIGN OF AN AIRCRAFT WING LEADING EDGE TO WITHSTAND BIRD IMPACT EVENTS

This paper aims to investigate the crashworthiness capability of a metallic sandwich leading edge of a commercial aircraft subjected to bird strike events. A sensitivity analysis is presented, in order to determine the influence of the skin parameters (inner and outer faces and core thicknesses) on the leading edge crashworthiness and to determine, among the configuration able to withstand a birdstrike event, the best compromise in terms of weight and structural performances. In order to easily manage the design parameters and the output data, the ModeFrontier code was used in conjunction with the FE code Abaqus/Explicit. A dedicated python routine has been developed to define a fully parametric simplified vertical tail leading edge model. In order to fulfil the aerodynamic requirements, the external surfaces have been considered fixed during the sensitivity analysis and thus only the internal leading edge’s components have been modified to study their influence on the structural response. The global mass of the model, the maximum deformation, and the energy dissipated due to material failure and to the plastic deformations have been monitored and used to compare and assess the behavior of each configuration.