Review on high-speed raindrop impact erosion of aircraft: mechanical mechanism, experimental methods, modeling analysis and future prospects
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O347.4

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    Abstract:

    During the high-speed flight of aircraft, raindrop impact erosion causes significant damage to surface materials, thereby seriously affecting flight performance and structural safety. This paper aims to systematically review the mechanical mechanisms, key influencing factors, and progress in corresponding protection technologies of high-speed raindrop impact erosion. In terms of experiments, current studies mainly rely on devices such as wind tunnels, rocket sleds, and rotating arms to construct simulated environments of real rain fields. Meanwhile, high-speed photography is used to record the dynamic erosion process, and laser velocimetry is employed to obtain raindrop impact velocity, thus achieving multi-dimensional observation of erosion behavior. In terms of numerical simulation, this paper focuses on introducing mainstream simulation techniques such as the finite element method (FEM) and the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. Additionally, an overview was provided of existing research methods and outcomes, which primarily involve establishing liquid-solid coupling models to analyze the propagation patterns of stress waves and the dynamic response characteristics of materials during impact processes. The research results show that raindrop impact velocity, impact angle, and mechanical properties of materials are the key factors affecting the erosion rate. Based on the actual flight envelope parameters of aircraft, targeted optimization design of rain erosion resistance performance can be carried out, which provides a theoretical basis and technical support for improving the service safety of aircraft in harsh meteorological environments.

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History
  • Received:December 05,2025
  • Revised:February 04,2026
  • Adopted:February 05,2026
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