Damage assessment of CFRP laminate plate subjected to close-range blast loading: hydrocode methodology validation and case study

Abstract

Blast loading represents a critical damaging event in all structures. Although composite materials have been increasingly adopted in structural application, the effect of such dynamic loading event on composite structures is still to be evaluated in detail. This work defines a reliable numerical methodology to assess the damage occurring in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plate subjected to close-range blast loading. The numerical methodology is validated with a benchmark experiment found in literature and is employed to study in detail the damage mechanisms and eventual Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) effects. The numerical analyses are carried out through a commercially available software package employing two methods, i.e., the ConWep and the hybrid coupled Eulerian-Lagrangia (CEL)-ConWep approaches, and the results from the simulations are compared with experimental evidence from the original work. The results show that (i) the hybrid approach seems to be a promising solution in terms of efficiency and accuracy in modelling blast events, (ii) the ConWep approach accurately reproduces experimental observations, even though such a method has strong limitations.