Impact Response of Fiber Composite Structures

Abstract

The problem of impact loading of fiber composite structures is important because of the possibility of accidental damage occuring during service. The present paper is a review of a combined experimental and analytical study of transverse impact loading of carbon/epoxy composite plates and cylinders. Scaling of response with structure size was investigated as part of the program. Analysis procedures for dynamic response were developed, using Ritz techniques for plates and Fourier series expansions combined with Laplace transforms for the cylinders. The experimental results showed good correlation with scaling rules developed for structural response. Good agreement was also obtained between experiment and analysis for surface strain response in both the plates and the cylinders. Scaling of damage is seen to be more complicated, with measured delamination sizes exhibiting a dependence on absolute specimen size as would be predicted by fracture mechanics.