Chapter 22
Influence Study of the Bird Shape
on the Birdstrike Response for Flat Blade
Xiamei Zhang and Qiang Zhang
Abstract With the development of the aviation industry, the number of civil and
cargo aircrafts is increasing. However, birdstrike is a major threat to the aircrafts.
In order to conduct the influence study of the bird shape on the birdstrike response
for flat blade, four bird shape models, i.e. cylinder, ellipsoid, sphere and cylinder
with hemispherical ends are established. Through the birdstrike simulations of bird
with different shapes on the flat blades, the maximum displacement of the flat blade,
the peak of the impact contact force and the energy absorption of the flat blade are
obtained. The results show that the spherical bird causes the most serious damage
to the flat blade, and the bird with the shape of cylinder with hemispherical ends is
weaker than spherical bird. Cylindrical bird and ellipsoidal bird are comparable, but
both are weaker than the former two. Therefore, a spherical bird should be adopted in
the numerical birdstrike study of the engine blade to ensure the safety of the engine.
Keywords Birdstrike · Blade · Bird shape
22.1 Introduction
The number of civil and cargo aircrafts is greatly increasing with the vigorous
development of the aviation industry. Accidents related to aviation also occur more
frequently because birdstrike is one of the important causes of aircraft failures and
accidents. On August 15, 2019, an Airbus A321 of Russia hit a group of seagulls
during take-off, resulting in damage to both engines and a huge landing risk. The
aircraft may lose its power instantly when the birdstrike happens, which is very
substantial danger. For this reason, this paper conducts a numerical simulation study
on the birdstrike problem of the engine blades.
Bird body is a key factor in the birdstrike research that affects the impact response.
FAR 25.571 requires that the aircraft engine should be controlled to shut down
without a fire under the impact of a 1.8 kg bird body, but the shape of bird body is
X. Zhang (B) · Q. Zhang
Power-Plant Institute, Chinese Flight Establishment, Xi’an 710072, China
e-mail: 710021280@qq.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Xu and K. M. Pandey (eds.), Mechanical Engineering and Materials,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68303-0_22
273
Influence Study of the Bird Shape
on the Birdstrike Response for Flat Blade
Xiamei Zhang and Qiang Zhang
Abstract With the development of the aviation industry, the number of civil and
cargo aircrafts is increasing. However, birdstrike is a major threat to the aircrafts.
In order to conduct the influence study of the bird shape on the birdstrike response
for flat blade, four bird shape models, i.e. cylinder, ellipsoid, sphere and cylinder
with hemispherical ends are established. Through the birdstrike simulations of bird
with different shapes on the flat blades, the maximum displacement of the flat blade,
the peak of the impact contact force and the energy absorption of the flat blade are
obtained. The results show that the spherical bird causes the most serious damage
to the flat blade, and the bird with the shape of cylinder with hemispherical ends is
weaker than spherical bird. Cylindrical bird and ellipsoidal bird are comparable, but
both are weaker than the former two. Therefore, a spherical bird should be adopted in
the numerical birdstrike study of the engine blade to ensure the safety of the engine.
Keywords Birdstrike · Blade · Bird shape
22.1 Introduction
The number of civil and cargo aircrafts is greatly increasing with the vigorous
development of the aviation industry. Accidents related to aviation also occur more
frequently because birdstrike is one of the important causes of aircraft failures and
accidents. On August 15, 2019, an Airbus A321 of Russia hit a group of seagulls
during take-off, resulting in damage to both engines and a huge landing risk. The
aircraft may lose its power instantly when the birdstrike happens, which is very
substantial danger. For this reason, this paper conducts a numerical simulation study
on the birdstrike problem of the engine blades.
Bird body is a key factor in the birdstrike research that affects the impact response.
FAR 25.571 requires that the aircraft engine should be controlled to shut down
without a fire under the impact of a 1.8 kg bird body, but the shape of bird body is
X. Zhang (B) · Q. Zhang
Power-Plant Institute, Chinese Flight Establishment, Xi’an 710072, China
e-mail: 710021280@qq.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Xu and K. M. Pandey (eds.), Mechanical Engineering and Materials,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68303-0_22
273