The University of Ghent uses GEN5i from HBM to measure the impact of bird strikes

Bird strikes are being simulated in the laboratory of the Department of Applied Materials Science at the University of Ghent in order to gain insight into the consequences of bird impacts with aircraft. The collisions are set up not only to test materials and parts but also to set technical design constraints for minimising the effects of bird strikes. The testing facilities have been expanded now that the laboratory is going to participate in the European commission’s E-Break project. To assist in the project, the university has acquired an HBM GEN5i data recorder (meanwhile the successor model GEN7i is available), which has been specially developed for data acquisition at extremely high speeds. “Bird strikes can have fatal consequences for aviation”, says Geert Luyckx, who supervises the laboratory’s contribution to E-Break. “A collision with a bird doesn’t itself necessarily cause a lot of physical damage, but even a slight imbalance in an aero engine can eventually lead to severe damage to and failure of the engine. Investigating the consequences of bird strikes in aviation has been part of extensive test procedures for many years.” The department has gained a considerable reputation for analysing the consequences of bird strikes. A test facility was built in 1997 in the context of ‘Experimental simulation of birdstrike on airplane parts’ (part of the European BRITE-EURAM II project). Initial simulations were only of strikes by birds weighing 500 grams, but the facilities have been expanded for the new project to handle impacts by birds of 1.8 kilos, equivalent to the weight of a duck. There are also tests with weights of four kilos, equivalent to a goose. Although the aviation industry conducts tests using real birds, the laboratory in Ghent uses blocks of gelatine, which have similar mass and behaviour. The gelatine is cast in a bullet-shaped mould and then shot at the test object. The tests are standardised and are carried out in accordance with the specifications of aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus.

GEN5i: high-speed data acquisition

The University of Ghent bought an HBM GEN5i for the project. According to Frederik Allaeys, this data acquisition system was chosen in particular because of its modular structure, which allows cards for different applications to be added easily. The GEN5i is a complete, portable data acquisition system that has been specially developed for high-speed data acquisition with sampling rates of up to 100 megasamples per second. It can be expanded to a maximum of 160 simultaneous measurement channels, and is therefore suitable for complex measuring set-ups. The laboratory in Ghent uses an average of ten to fifteen channels and sampling rates of up to 25 MS/s. The GEN5i data recorder is a complete computer containing an integral hard disk for storing data. This data can be sent for further analysis via standard interfaces such as WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet or USB. In addition, the standard configuration of the recorder includes various filters, as well as HBM’s Perception software for the processing, analysis and visualisation on the screen of an enormous amount of measurement data. The GEN5i is a transient recorder, which records extremely fast and one-off signals. This type of signal is often characteristic of destructive material tests, fire tests and high voltage. The recorder can be configured and started quickly, thanks to its simple user interface and proprietary software.