Soft impact assessment methodology for hybrid structure aerospace engines

Jet engines commonly ingest birds and other foreign objects during flight. Engine manufacturers currently rely on costly, time-consuming physical tests to develop bird strike-resistant engine designs. As composites and hybrid metal-reinforced-composite structures are being progressively incorporated into primary engine components, novel computational approaches are needed to reduce the reliance on experiments to evaluate the soft impact damage tolerance of the new generation engines. A crashworthiness analysis methodology is proposed for assessing damage and failure in hybrid structures engine forward sections using an explicit finite element platform. Critical soft impact scenarios consistent with the Federal Aviation Regulations for bird strike certification were considered for a modern propulsion design and the resulting key progressive damage mechanisms explored and examined within the context of certification guidelines.