Simulation on low velocity impact to GLARE laminate based on ABAQUS

Abstract

The material behavior of glass fiber reinforced aluminum laminates (GLARE) under low-speed impact of a falling hammer was studied, and a finite element model of ABAQUS for simulation and experimental verification was built. According to the characteristics of fiber metal matrix materials, the continuous damage mechanics (CDM) model was adopted, and the impact energy values of the falling hammer were set as 6.22 J, 12.38 J and 14.46 J respectively. The corresponding boundary conditions and loads of the model in ABAQUS were confirmed to obtain the velocity-time curve and energy loss curve of the falling direction of the falling hammer. The cohesive layer between metal layer and composite layer was taken into consideration, and the ‘Cohesive Layer’ in ABAQUS was adopted to bond metal layer and composite material layer. The tensile and compressive damage states of fibers and matrix in simulation were observed and compared with the experimental results. The results show that the finite element simulation can accurately simulate the crack and bulge effect on the back of GLARE laminates after the impact, as well as the damage situation of the matrix and fiber, so as to well predict the internal damage of the composite material.

Keywords

• fiber metal laminates
• GLARE laminates
• low velocity impact
• finite element simulation
• continuum damage model