Bird Strike Qualification of the External Stores of the new DLR Research Aircraft HALO

HALO – the High Altitude and LOng Range Research Aircraft will be the new DLR aircraft for atmospheric research and earth observation operated for the German Science Community. The external stores for additional scientific equipment comprise Wing Pods as well as a Belly Pod, both have to fulfill bird strike requirements following the JAR Part 25.631 “Bird Strike Damage”. The concept development and the design of the structures was completely performed by applying the explicit crash/high velocity impact (HVI) code PAM-CRASH/PAM-SHOCK in combination with the Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (PAM-SPH) solver, used to model the bird. The design, analysis, bird strike testing and realization phase for the original HALO external stores nose sections and leading edges were completed at DLR. All parts were adapted to the aircraft structure and are currently in the certification process, followed by the flight testing phase and start of missions in 2010/2011