Numerical and experimental evaluation of the damage induced by a low-speed impact on a composite plate in an industrial context
Résumé
In order to respond to design and security needs, a material model intended for impact simulations has been developed. Usually, the delamination prediction requires computationally expensive methods. The following method on the other hand includes the main physical mechanisms which occur during low-speed impacts at the material model level. The intralaminar matrix damage is modelled by means of the continuum damage mechanics, a smeared crack approach is used for the fibre failure and the strain-rate dependency is introduced thanks to a linear viscoelastic model. Thanks to the membrane deformation provided by a Mindlin-Reissner shell formulation and the stiffness of the plies, the material model is able to compute a realistic strain distribution, even in case of delamination, through the thickness of the laminate. Based on a higher-order zigzag displacement theory with interfacial imperfections, the strains are established by using an internal loop, which ensures the internal energy equilibrium between both plate theories. Thanks to 3D visualisation of the damage by means of efficient non-destructive ultrasonic inspections and volume reconstruction, the predicted damage areas of a composite plate subject to out-of-plane loading are compared to the real ones.