RESEARCH ON THE TRIGGERING CONDITIONS OF EJECTABLE RECORDER FOR CIVIL AIRCRAFT

The survivability of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) is of great importance when air crash happens. Compared with the traditional recorder, the ejectable recorder can enhance the survival ability when aircraft hits the ground or plunges into water, which can facilitate the accident investigation. In this paper, we are devoted to simulating the whole process of the recorder's ejection in case of ground crash and summarize an inductive triggering condition, aiming to offer some references to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to improve the FDR design and test. With many factors being considered, the overload threshold is used as the triggering condition. Taking the Modern Ark 60 (MA60) as the researched item, we apply the unstructured dynamic chimera grid technology coupled with the 6-DOF equation to simulate the ejecting trajectory. The consequences show that the ejectable FDR can safely separate from the vertical and horizontal stabilizers without colliding with each other. At last, according to the ground impact speed and location, the ejectable FDR meets the no-damage strength requirements.