Testers to get the bird for safety testing

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 29, 2005

BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is developing a new artificial bird for use in bird-strike testing.

BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is developing a new artificial bird for use in bird-strike testing.

At present, all aircraft are required to pass a certification test to ensure safe aircraft flight and operation in the event of a bird-strike.

The current certification test for bird-strike is performed by firing dead birds from a gas cannon onto aircraft components such as windshields, windows, radomes, aircraft engines and leading edge structures.

During the design and development stage of new aircraft, an artificial bird is often used in place of the real bird; this helps to improve the repeatability of the bird-strike tests and reduce the biological hazard associated with real birds.

Artificial birds used in bird-strike tests are often manufactured from gelatine and formed into a simple primitive geometry (cylinder, hemispherical ended cylinder or ellipsoid) to represent the principal mass of the bird (torso).

Although previous work has shown good agreement between artificial and real birds (impact pressure and impulse), there are certain situations where this is not the case.

In an effort to improve and standardise the artificial bird for certification tests the International Bird-Strike Research Group (IBRG) is investigating the use of novel material systems to replace the existing artificial birds.

The IBRG is a consortium of aviation and academic institutions including BAE Systems, Central Science Laboratory, Civil Aviation Authority, Honeywell, Oxford University, Pratt and Whitney (America and Canada), QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and the University of Dayton Research Institute.

Stuart McCallum, who is leading work on the project for BAE Systems explains: "Bird-strikes present a significant financial and safety threat to aircraft worldwide".

"Between 1999 and 2000, it is estimated that bird-strikes cost commercial aviation more than US $1 billion in terms of damage to aircraft and lost revenues caused by delays".

"In a worst-case scenario bird-strike events can result in the loss of an aircraft, its crew and passengers".

Advanced computer simulation is also playing a key role in the analysis of bird-strike events.

The bird model used in bird-strike simulation is often based on the material and shape of the artificial bird used during physical tests.

In recent work the ATC has investigated the influence of bird-shape for large bird species such as the Canada Goose using computer simulation.

This bird-species is of particular concern to the aviation industry because of its high mass and increasing population growth.

Using a more detailed representation of the bird in a bird-strike model, which includes the neck and wings, simulation results indicate a more complex impact response than was obtained from earlier bird models.

The significance of these effects is being investigated in ongoing work.

As the risk of bird-strikes increases in proportion with the number of birds and planes sharing the skies, it is vital that testing is constantly improved and made as accurate as possible.

The work that BAE Systems is undertaking in partnership with the IBRG will improve understanding of bird-strike events, develop more accurate artificial birds for testing and strengthen modelling capabilities.