Coupled Analysis of Low-Velocity Impact Damage and Compression after Impact Strength of Composite Laminates
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 5
Abstract
A coupled analysis of impact damage and compression-after-impact (CAI) strength of laminated composite plates was conducted using efficient analytical and semianalytical models with the goal of demonstrating and validating the overall coupled impact/CAI strength model. Within this coupled framework, the impact model determines the transient response of the plate subjected to low-velocity impact, followed by an estimation of impact damage using a combination of strength and energy-based criteria. The predicted impact damage is idealized and used in conjunction with analytical buckling and postbuckling or kink-band analysis to predict the residual compressive strength. The coupled analysis approach was validated by applying it to impact and compression-after-impact experiments conducted on AS4/8552 laminates. It was shown that the coupled analysis model is able to predict accurately the compression-after-impact strength for a range of impact scenarios and material layups in a fraction of the time required by detailed finite-element models.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions (e.g., anonymized data). Specifically, the computer code and raw experimental and simulation data files are proprietary in nature.
Acknowledgments
The material is based upon work supported by NASA under Award Nos. NNL09AA00A and 80LARC17C0004. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The work also was partially funded by Collins Aerospace and Raytheon Technologies Research Center (formerly known as United Technologies Research Center), both of which are divisions of Raytheon Technologies Corporation (formerly known as United Technologies Corporation). The authors acknowledge Milan Mitrovic and Steve Ward of Collins Aerospace for their support.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 5 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 15, 2020
Accepted: Jan 25, 2021
Published online: May 26, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Oct 26, 2021
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