Impact Damage in Curved Laminated Composites

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An analytical and experimental investigation will be performed to study the impact damage in fiber-reinforced laminated composites and the effects of their curvature and ply orientation on the damage. The analysis will be able to predict the extent and the types of damage in flat and curved composite structures due to transient dynamic impact. Stresses and strains in laminates will be calculated by a proposed finite element method which is based on transient dynamic analysis with the consideration of material and geometric nonlinearities. Failure will be predicted and damage progression will be simulated by the proposed failure analysis. The failure analysis will include a continuum mechanics approach for in-plane damage and a dynamic fracture model for delamination growth and arrest. A user friendly computer code based on the analysis will be developed during the course of this investigation. The code could serve as a design tool to evaluate the impact resistance of given composite structures and to select optimal configurations of composite structures for a given application. Experimental tests of flat and curved composite structures will also be performed to assess the validity of the model and the computer simulations.