Foreign Object Damage Studies

The windshield of an F-15 fighter aircraft is set up for birdstrike testing.

The Impact Physics laboratory can perform a wide array of foreign object damage (FOD) impact tests on aircraft structures or engine components.  Projectiles as small as grains of sand to packages over 100 pounds have been launched using our compressed-gas gun launchers.  Impact velocities range from 100 ft/sec to over 1,400 ft/sec.  Typical projectiles for testing aircraft structures and engine components to meet FAA regulations include birds up to 8-pound Canadian geese and iceballs to simulate hail impacts.  This facility is also used to evaluate shields and containment structures by launching aircraft engine blades, discs, or fragments into the containment structures.  Impact shock tests of the Crash Survivable Memory Unit (CSMU) of flight data and cockpit voice recorders are also tested using our compressed-gas gun launchers.

Subscale as well as full-scale test articles (including full-sized aircraft fuselages) can be accommodated in our environmentally-controlled indoor test facility.  A variety of high-speed instrumentation are available on these test ranges, including: high-speed cameras with framing rates up to 20,000 frames/sec, accelerometers, force gages, strain gages, thermocouples, and laser/photodetector stations for velocity measurement.