Development of a hybrid element to model intralaminar damage in thick composite plates under impact loading

Abstract

This article deals with the development of a new intralaminar interface in order to extend the semi-continuous strategy already developed by the authors for impacts on thin composite laminates to thicker ones. Based on medium experimental observations scale, the new interface introduced aims at capturing transverse resin cracks occurring between fibre bundles of a unidirectional ply. The new element is implemented in the commercial finite element software Radioss®. Results of impact simulations performed on thick HTA7-913 plates (various thicknesses) are compared with experimental ones, and show good agreements in terms of both damage sizes and load-displacement curves.