Numerical simulation and validation on hydrodynamic models for artificial bird impacted with aircraft structures

Artificial birds are widely used in aircraft structural studies for evaluating bird strike resistance, with their dynamic mechanical properties critically influencing the accuracy and reliability of numerical simulations. An accurate Equation of State (EOS) is important and essential for numerical simulated artificial bird impacted with aircraft structure. However, the acquisition of parameters for the EOS models have predominantly relied on inversion methods that combine bird strike test and numerical simulation. Nonetheless, these parameters lack clear physical significate and exhibit limited accuracy. This study equivalently simulates real bird with varying mass and density by introducing porosity into pure gelatin, based on the statistical mass-density relationship observed in real bird. Furthermore, an EOS incorporating hydrodynamic principles was established to characterize the behavior of these porosity-engineered artificial bird. The accuracy of the developed model and its parameters are validated through comparison between numerical simulations and rigid target impact tests. Further application of the EOS and its parameters in bird strike simulations on aircraft windshield pillar demonstrates its effectiveness in predicting flexible dynamic structural responses. The developed EOS based on hydrodynamic models provides reliable theoretical support for numerical simulations of artificial bird projectiles, demonstrating potential for enhancing predictive capabilities in both rigid and flexible structural impact analyses within aviation safety engineering.