Abstract

Impact modeling of fiber reinforced polymer composites is a complex and challenging task, in particular for practitioners with less experience in advanced coding and user-defined subroutines. Different numerical algorithms have been developed over the past decades for impact modeling of composites, yet a considerable gap often exists between predicted and experimental observations. In this paper, after a review of reported sources of complexities in impact modeling of fiber reinforced polymer composites, two simplified approaches are presented for fast simulation of out-of-plane impact response of these materials considering four main effects: (a) strain rate dependency of the mechanical properties, (b) difference between tensile and flexural bending responses, (c) delamination, and (d) the geometry of fixture (clamping conditions). In the first approach, it is shown that by applying correction factors to the quasistatic material properties, which are often readily available from material datasheets, the role of these four sources in modeling impact response of a given composite may be accounted for. As a result a rough estimation of the dynamic force response of the composite can be attained. To show the application of the approach, a twill woven polypropylene/glass reinforced thermoplastic composite laminate has been tested under 200 J impact energy and was modeled in Abaqus/Explicit via the built-in Hashin damage criteria. X-ray microtomography was used to investigate the presence of delamination inside the impacted sample. Finally, as a second and much simpler modeling approach it is shown that applying only a single correction factor over all material properties at once can still yield a reasonable prediction. Both advantages and limitations of the simplified modeling framework are addressed in the performed case study.

Highlights

  • Finite element analysis (FEA) has been employed in a large portion of past investigations on modeling and predicting the response of fiber reinforced composite materials

  • To give a few examples, a three-dimensional computational micromechanical model was developed for woven fabric composites by Ivanov and Tabiei [1]

  • The impact response of unidirectional composite laminates was modeled by Aminjikarai and Tabiei [2] using a strain-rate dependent micromechanical model with a progressive damage behavior

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Summary

Introduction

Finite element analysis (FEA) has been employed in a large portion of past investigations on modeling and predicting the response of fiber reinforced composite materials. Several impact and post-impact tests have been conducted on composites (e.g., [6,7,8]) to understand damage mechanisms experimentally and validate the associated finite element codes Despite these efforts, a fully representative numerical model has not been developed to date to predict composites response under all different impact conditions, or it would be computationally very expensive. The Scientific World Journal and experimental results are attributed to, on one hand, various uncertain parameters in the material (such as fiber misalignment/waviness, voids, and nonuniform volume fraction distribution), and on the other hand, modeling errors (such as assumptions made in fiber-matrix bonding behavior, rate—and deformation mode—dependency of the material parameters, etc.) As a sample case study, the impact behavior of a glass fiber/polypropylene thermoplastic composite has been investigated against both approaches

Case Study Experiments
Conventional Shell Finite Element Model and Limitations
Proposed Simplified Modeling
Findings
Summary and Conclusion
Full Text
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