Modeling of bird strike to a composite helicopter rotor blade

Bird strike is one of the most important concerns about safety in the aviation industry. Bird strikes have been the cause of significant damage to aircraft and rotorcraft structures and the loss of life. In this study, the transient response of a Lagrangian composite helicopter blade impacted by a bird is simulated in LS-DYNA software. The smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method and a suitable equation of state are employed for the bird modeling. Firstly, the impact response of hemispherical-ended cylindrical bird, striking a flat rigid panel, is studied. After verifying the bird model, a composite helicopter rotor blade is modeled using MAT54 material model for carbon fiber reinforced plastic face sheets, MAT126 for NOMEX honeycomb core and MAT181 for rubber material. For this purpose, SHELL and SOLID cards are employed. The stress effect of centrifugal force and rotation of blade are investigated in addition to the bird impact scenario that is specified in certification criteria.