Characterization and modeling of residual elastic properties of impact damaged glass fiber composite

Abstract

This paper presents a combined experimental and numerical study on the residual elastic properties of damaged glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. The objective is to develop a stepwise damage model for laminated structures under various impact loading conditions, considering the elastic properties of the damaged composites. We employed a finite element method (FEM) using Abaqus for numerical modeling and conducted experiments with accelerometers to gather data. A 3D damage model with solid elements was implemented in Abaqus/Explicit to assess the type and extent of damage through the laminate thickness. The study examined the effects of different impact energies (30 J, 40 J, 50 J, 90 J, and 150 J) on force-displacement relationships, resulting in varying damage parameters and elastic moduli. The residual elastic properties of GFRP were found to be 15.3101, 14.9011, 14.6639, 14.5416, and 14.2366, respectively, corresponding to the different impact energies, all while maintaining consistent size and shape constraints. The results showed excellent agreement between experimental characterization and finite element modeling of natural frequencies under the same impact loading conditions.

Keywords

• Residual elastic properties
• Impact energy
• Finite element modeling
• Natural frequency
• Glass fiber composite