Abstract:
The fuel system of helicopters must resist to a drop test as requested in the section §952 of FAR Part 27 and 29. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) traditionally contributes to minimize the risk of unsuccessful fuel system drop test as simulations help to predict and design in advance the behavior of the fuel system embedded into its surrounding structure. Now the high quality of the FEA allows not only certifying design modifications without conducting a new test, but also evaluating a potential risk of additional outboard equipment on the tank behavior. This is based on a conservative simulation method, applied here on examples from helicopters EC130-T2 and EC135.