Evaluation of bird strike-induced damages of helicopter composite fuel tank assembly based on fluid-structure interaction analysis

Abstract We numerically investigated the structural behaviors and damage of a bird strike on a composite fuel tank assembly of a commercial KUH-1 Surion utility helicopter based on a fluid-structure interaction analysis. A coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian method and a smoothed particle hydrodynamic method were applied to consider the sloshing of fuel and replicate the impact behaviors of a bird strike, respectively. In addition, the Hashin failure criteria considering four composite damage modes was applied in the simulation. We found that not only the increase in the amount of fuel but also the curved geometry had a negative effect on the structural safety of the composite fuel tank during the impact. These findings will be used as reference data and guidelines for bird strike tests and airworthiness certification in the future.