Damage progressive model of compression of composite laminates after low velocity impact

Abstract

Compressive properties of composite laminates after low velocity impact are one of the most serious circumstances that must be taken into account in damage tolerance design of composite structures. In order to investigate compressive properties of composite laminates after low velocity impact, three dimensional dynamic finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate low-velocity impact damage of 2 kinds of composite laminates firstly. Damage distributions and projective damage areas of the laminates were predicted under two impact energy levels. The analyzed damage after impact was considered to be the initial damage of the laminates under compressive loads. Then three dimensional static FEM was used to simulate the compressive failure process and to calculate residual compressive strengths of the impact damaged laminates. It is achieved to simulate the whole process from initial low-velocity impact damage to final compressive failure of composite laminates. Compared with experimental results, it shows that the numerical predicting results agree with the test results fairly well.