Reprint of: The particle finite element method for the numerical simulation of bird strike

•The particle finite element method (PFEM) is tested for the modeling of the bird in bird impact numerical simulations.•The method is first assessed based on academic cases (impacts against rigid walls) and then on more realistic cases (metallic panel undergoing large deformations).•An original partitioned fluid-structure interaction coupling between the PFEM and a non-linear finite element solver has been implemented.•Numerical results are validated against available benchmarks from the literature.