United Engine Corporation has carried out certification bird strike testing of the latest PD-8 aircraft engine. The propulsion system for the Superject has proved stable operation in bird strike conditions. Testing has demonstrated engine reliability and flight safety even in abnormal situation.
During engine operation in full throttle mode with 8 tons of thrust, four bird carcasses per second were fired from a special four-barrel cannon placed at a distance of five meters from the propulsion system to simulate a flock of birds.
For engine reliability assessment in close-to-real conditions, speed and accuracy of bird collision with the engine fan were evaluated. For this, carcasses were fired with due consideration of the aircraft take-off and landing speed — 103 meters per second. Bird carcasses collided with the most critical cross-sections of fan blades and fairing.
The PD-8 currently continues undergoing a set of bench and flight tests to validate design solutions. Certification blade off and water ingestion tests were carried out earlier at UEC-Saturn’s open test bench and demonstrated reliable operation of the propulsion system in critical conditions. The engine has also demonstrated its performance during acoustic testing, propulsion operation in crosswind conditions and during thrust reverser testing.
