A novel approach for the investigation of low energy ice impacts

Soft body impacts are one of the main sources of damage for aircraft during flight due to the high relative velocities. However, a hailstone can also hit a structure at low velocity (e.g. during parking, taxi and terminal flight phases) causing barely visible damages. In this research work, a new approach is proposed for the investigation of low energy ice impacts. A drop tower apparatus was modified to accommodate specifically developed ice impactors. High-speed Digital Image Correlation was employed to measure the targets out-of-plane deformations and in-plane strain fields. Different ice impactors geometries, target materials and energy levels were considered. From results, it has been demonstrated that this methodology is able to capture the effect of ice impacting at low speed on targets.