Damage severity prediction of helicopter windshields caused by a collision with a small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV)

Abstract

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) have recently been increased for various operations like parcel delivery, industrial inspection, aerial photography, and safety surveillance. Increased in sUAV traffic in future may lead to higher chance of collision between sUAV with other airspace users where mid-air collision debris might fall and endanger peoples on the ground. Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation is employed to assess damage severity caused by the sUAV collision on helicopter windshield compared to bird strike, series of collision simulation has been performed to investigate influence of different parameters like windshield thickness, windshield material type, and helicopter speed to the damage severity of the helicopter windshield. In our preliminary study, it is found the damage level in sUAV collision cause more severe damage compared to bird strike for same weight category, i.e., 1.8 kg and 3.0 kg. Study of damage severity due to sUAV collision can also be performed in future study to have better understanding on this risk. From this study, aviation airworthiness authorities have better insight on the limitation of current airworthiness, at the same time could provide information for aviation authorities to formulate regulations for operations of sUAV, helicopter, or eVTOL.