Assessment of Numerical Simulation Models for Impact Damage of Composite Materials

Abstract

Fiber reinforced resin matrix composites(FRP) have been widely used in aerospace and other advanced structures. The study of low-speed impact damage of FRP is of important engineering application value. The numerical simulation models of composite structural damage under low velocity impact are classified and evaluated. The low-velocity impact model is composed of two kinds of sub-models: the impact process model and the material damage evolution model. The key elements of each type of model and their processing methods are listed. The commonly used combinations are collected and reviewed, and six simulation models appeared constantly in the literatures are listed. The numerical evaluation of two examples with the listed six models is completed. Results show that for orthogonal laminated plates, the damage shapes and areas given by the six models can be predicted accurately, but for the angle-ply laminated plate, the delamination damage morphology achieved by the model of Puck criterion, considering shear nonlinearity and based energy release rate is closer to the experimental results.

Keywords

• composites
• low-velocity impact
• numerical simulation
• failure criterion