Impact response of bio-inspired curved laminated composite plates: A numerical simulation

This study aims to develop a numerical simulation model that investigates the load response of the low velocity impact for curved plates with different layup configurations using unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). At first, the commercial explicit finite element code LS-DYNA is used to develop the numerical simulation model to validate the experimental finding of a published work. A 2D modeling approach with a single shell element is adopted. The plies thickness and fiber orientations are defined using PART_COMPOSITE. The elasto-plastic composite material model MAT54, based on the failure criteria, is used to define the unidirectional composite material, while MAT20 is used to define the impactor material as a rigid body. The numerical simulation results show a strong agreement with the experimental results in terms of absorbed energy, impact force, and deflection plots. Consequently, the developed model is used to study the impact response and resistance of different curved plates (R0 (Flate), R500, R750, and R1500), and different layup configurations (Unidirectional (UD), Cross-Ply (CP), Quasi-Isotropic (QI), Linear bio-inspired Helicoidal (LH), and nonlinear bio-inspired Fibonacci-Helicoidal (FH)). The designed CFRP plate consist of 32-plies with overall dimensions of 300x150x3.6 mm. The CFRP plate is impacted by a hemispherical steel impactor of 25.4 mm diameter and 6.5 m/s speed to generate 40 J of impact energy. Each layup configuration is analyzed separately with different plate curvatures to discover the advantages of the curved plates over the flat plate in order to improve the low velocity impact resistance. The curved plates showed excellent behavior in reducing the impact force and deflection during the low velocity impact simulation for all layup configurations. It can be concluded from this study that the curved plates can be effective in enhancing structural impact resistance under low velocity impact conditions, while the following numerical simulation model can be effectively utilized for the purpose of designing and analyzing innovative bio-inspired composite structures in various configurations under different impact scenarios to study the load response.