Failure modeling of composite wing leading edge under bird strike

•Nonlinearity and strain rate dependency of composite material are considered in the model.•Different failure modes are simulated through material damage, stiffness reduction and element removal.•The model is able to reproduce the deformation and failure process of composite structure under impact.•The impact resistance capability of composite structures is improved through stacking sequences optimization. Bird strike analysis has been an essential work in aeroplane design and airworthiness assessment. This paper presents a numerical method to simulate the deformation and failure process of composite wing leading edges in bird impact events. First of all, constitutive models were proposed for each material that composed the front edge. Specially, the model for composite material has taken account for the nonlinear behavior, the strain rate dependency, as well as different failure modes. Employing the user subroutine program and the failure modeling techniques, numerical models were built for bird strike simulation. Then the model was validated through bird impact tests on two kinds of edge structure: a laminated one and a sandwich one. Numerical results of both structures show good agreements with the test observation, from the dynamic response to the ultimate failure characteristics. Based on the numerical method, optimal stacking sequences of each structure was found. The results show that the modeling method may help with the crashworthiness design of composite structures.