Case Study: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation reduces bird strike testing costs with MSC Software Dytran

Sikorsky Aircraft Uses MSC.Nastran 2004 Implicit Nonlinear to Reduce Design Bottlenecks

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a world leader in helicopter design, manufacture, and service, needed a better way to certify critical rotor components against bird strikes. Previously, the company relied on extremely expensive physical bird-strike test programs, sometimes requiring multiple design/build/test iterations and prototype rigs costing about $1,000,000 per test. Sikorsky turned to MSC Software and its Dytran explicit finite element analysis software to address this challenge.

MSC Software implemented MSC Dytran to simulate bird-strike events on helicopter components, using finite element models of the rotor structure and bird impact to predict loads and moments. The simulations closely matched test results, enabling Sikorsky to validate designs with just a single physical test for certification, reduce development cost, and evaluate more design alternatives. The improved correlation also provided confidence in optimizing component performance and may eventually reduce the need for testing even further.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Michael R. Urban

Structures Research Department