Numerical Study of Impact Force on Thin Aluminium Plate Against Hail Ice Impact

Hail ice impact damages the airplane structures in the form of denting or rupture which are formed on the engine, leading edges of wings, and tail of the aircraft. Aircraft structures designed for aviation purposes are required to withstand a certain amount of hail ice impact damage. Numerically such problems were simulated using the finite element method for design purposes. In the current study, the performance of the 1 mm thick aluminum alloy targets (Al-1100, Al-7075, Al-6065, and Al-2024) was impacted by spherical hail ice of 38.1 mm diameter with different impact velocities. The numerical analysis was done using LS-DYNA in which the target plate was modelled using a modified Johnson cook material model. The impact performance was analyzed by computing the peak impact force and deformation for different aluminium alloys. It was observed that Al-7075 showed better impact resistance compared to other aluminium alloys considered for the study.