Impact damage modelling in composite laminates – numerical implementation of a strain rate dependent damage model

Abstract

In this work, a numerical methodology for simulation of impact damage in laminated CFRP structures has been developed and implemented into the Abaqus/Explicit software. The methodology is based on the recent insights into the mechanical behaviour of CFRP materials at various strain rates. Failure initiation is modelled using the failure theory that was introduced in Coles et al. (2019). This approach has been modified to include the strain rate effects according to work presented in Raimondo et al. (2012) and to account for the mesh objectivity of the damage process in this work. The model has been implemented into Abaqus/Explicit using the user material subroutine VUMAT and details of the implementation are discussed in the work. The model has been applied to the simulation of two impact simulations demonstrating that the damage modes of the composite plate, as well as damage scope and displacement fields, have been simulated accurately. The methodology has been previously developed for application in unidirectional composite plates, whereas this work and current research phase focus on woven composites. Additionally, only the in-plane failure modes are currently considered whereas the out-of-plane damage modes will be investigated in the future research.

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