Experimental and Numerical Study of the Influence of Pre-Existing Impact Damage on the Low-Velocity Impact Response of CFRP Panels

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the influence of pre-existing impact damage on the low-velocity impact response of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). A continuum damage mechanics-based material model was developed by defining a user-defined material model in Abaqus/Explicit. The model employed the action plane strength of Puck for the damage initiation criterion together with a strain-based progressive damage model. Initial finite element simulations at the single-element level demonstrated the validity and capability of the damage model. More complex models were used to simulate tensile specimens, coupon specimens, and skin panels subjected to low-velocity impacts, being validated against experimental data at each stage. The effect of non-central impact location showed higher impact peak forces and bigger damage areas for impacts closer to panel boundaries. The presence of pre-existing damage close to the impact region leading to interfering delamination areas produced severe changes in the mechanical response, lowering the impact resistance on the panel for the second impact, while for non-interfering impacts, the results of the second impact were similar to the impact of a pristine specimen.

Dynamic Behavior and Permanent Indentation in S2-Glass Woven Fabric Reinforced Polymer Composites under Impact: Experimentation and High-Fidelity Modeling

“…Different numerical approaches have been recently used to simulate the complex failure of composites under LVI loads [37][38][39][40][41][42]. While accurate results of interlaminar and intralaminar damage prediction were obtained [43,44], less attention has been paid to permanent indentation/deformation due to impact [45][46][47][48]. Measuring permanent indentation or dent depth, i.e., the distance between the surface of the laminate and the lowest point in the dent of an impact, is commonly used to inspect BVID in aeronautical structures [49][50][51].…”

Crashworthiness analysis and multi‐objective optimization of Al/CFRP hybrid tube with initial damage under transverse impact

“…Xiang et al 22 conducted a continuous numerical analysis of two types of impacts with constant total energy on steel parking structure columns, and found that a single impact had a greater degree of damage to the column than two impacts. Rezasefat et al 23 conducted experimental and numerical studies on the low‐speed impact response of CFRP panels with pre‐existing impact damage. Sebaey et al 24 used impact as a damage initiator to study the effects of impact frequency, position, and energy on the crashworthiness of glass/epoxy composite tubes.…”

Machine Learning-Assisted Characterization of Pore-Induced Variability in Mechanical Response of Additively Manufactured Components

“…Several researchers have applied physics-based simulations, machine learning (ML), and data-driven techniques to investigate the mechanical behaviour of defect-and porecontaining parts [44][45][46][47][48][49]. Owing to the outstanding capabilities of ML models, handling large and complex datasets obtained from XCT or simulations of parts with pores is now possible.…”