A new bird model and the effect of bird geometry in impacts from various orientations

In this paper, a bird model with geometry similar to a real bird (Bufflehead Duck) is introduced and compared to traditional bird models and also to experimental data. A bird can impact a part of an airplane from its head, tail, bottom or wings. Any of these orientations can have a different effect on the response of an airplane part. Since all birds do not have the same body shapes and sizes, and, since, it is not always convenient to model a complex bird body, four substitute bird models are introduced. The models results are then compared in order to determine the best substitute bird which can properly model the pressure and force exerted by real birds when impacting from different orientations. It was concluded that the impact from bird bottom side is the most damaging scenario, while the tail side impact is the less dangerous one. It was also found that for the tail side impact scenario, a hemispherical-ended cylinder shows the best results, while for the bottom side impact scenario, an ellipsoid can be the best candidate for the bird substitute model. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.