Abstract:
SARAH, for Increased Safety & Robust Certification for ditching of Aircrafts and Helicopters, was a European research program addressing the controlled emergency sea landing (also called ditching). The capacity of helicopters operating above water to ditch safely (minimizing risk of injury and enable safe evacuation) is directly linked to the kinematic and the integrity of the helicopter which depend on the forces acting on the structure during the water entry. Influence of the environment characteristics (waves, wind) or impact conditions (lift, attitudes) and emergency floatation system behavior were leading parameters or element considered during the project. The improvement and the optimization of tools able to predict ditching were supported by the experimental campaign led in the wave basin of Ecole Centrale Nantes in 2018 & 2019 with a generic mock-up (scale 1/3.4) exhaustively instrumented never used until now. The results of tests have been analyzed to perform correlations with modelling tools like detailed finite element methods and semi-analytical approaches. A part of the outcomes are synthetized in this study whose perimeter is framed by development methods and tools, operational elements and performance-based certification. Elements are gathered to identify their limits and maturity in order to provide reliable predictions.