Impact Damage of 3D Orthogonal Woven Composite Circular Plates

The damages of 3D orthogonal woven composite circular plate under quasi-static indentation and transverse impact were tested with Materials Test System (MTS) and modified split Hopkinson bar (SHPB) apparatus. The load vs. displacement curves during quasi-static penetration and impact were obtained to study the energy absorption of the composite plate. The fluctuation of the impact stress waves has been unveiled. Differences of the load-displacement curves between the quasi-static and impact loading are discussed. This work also aims at establishing a unit-cell model to analyze the damage of composites. A user material subroutine which named VUMAT for characterizing the constitutive relationship of the 3-D orthogonal woven composite and the damage evolution is incorporated with a finite element code ABAQUS/Explicit to simulate the impact damage process of the composite plates. From the comparison of the load-displacement curves and energy absorption curves of the composite plate between experimental and FEM simulation, it is shown that the unit-cell model of the 3D woven composite and the VUMAT combined with the ABAQUS/Explicit can calculate the impact responses of the circular plate precisely. Furthermore, the model can also be extended to simulate the impact behavior of the 3D woven composite structures.