Colley Aerospace consulted in the design, development, and airworthiness certification of a regional jet Horizontal Stabilizer (HSTAB) Leading Edge (LE) structure.
We performed the stress analysis, bird strike analysis, and the hail impact analysis on the fiber-reinforced composite and metallic structures that comprise the assembly. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and classical hand analysis techniques were used to determine the airworthiness of the composite and metallic structures and all bolted joint interfaces.
Detailed bird strike analyses were conducted on the leading edge structures using Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) techniques with generalized coupling and Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) methods. The bird strike analysis was used to determine the ability of the LE structure to withstand a bird strike in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
The analytical results were correlated to the actual bird strike test results, showing good agreement for leading-edge damage and bird splitting capability. In addition, a transient dynamic analysis with FSI was conducted on the leading edge skin to determine the capability of the structure to withstand hail damage during flight.
We generated detailed reports for all of these assessments to support the FAA airworthiness certification process.
HSTAB LE Finite Element Model
HSTAB LE Bird Strike Finite Element Model
HSTAB LE Bird Strike Results (Analysis Vs. Test Correlation) Analysis Results
Test Results
HSTAB LE Finite Element Model (Hail Impact Analysis)