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Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

5th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization (ICMPC 2016)

Finite Element Simulation of Low Velocity Impact Damage in

Composite Laminates
K. R. Jagtapa *, S. Y. Ghorpadea, A. Lalb, B. N. Singhc
a*,a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sinhgad Institute of Technology and Science, Pune-411041 India.
b
Department, Mechanical Engineering, SVNIT Surat Gujrat-395007, India.
c
Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT, Kharagpur West Bengal-721302, India

Abstract

This paper deals with the response of carbon/epoxy laminated plates subjected to low velocity impact loading. In this work
impact damage is predicted at the time of initiation when maximum stress failure criteria are satisfied. 3D finite element model of
composite laminate is generated. Impact simulation was performed using finite element software LS-DYNA with 3-D solid
elements. Failure modes in composite laminate such as matrix cracking, delamination were studied. Force and deformation
response in impact damage is estimated with varying mesh sizes. The effect of various parameters, such as clamped or simply
supported boundary conditions and impactor velocity (impact energy) are examined through parametric study.

©201 7 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Conference Committee Members of 5th International Conference of Materials
Processing and Characterization (ICMPC 2016).

Keywords: Carbon/Epoxy, Composite laminate, Low velocity impact, LS-DYNA, Impact damage.

1. Introduction

Laminated composite materials are most often used because of their high-strength and lightweight properties.
Thus, it is highly significant; to understand the behaviour of laminated composites under the potential impact loading
during fabrication, operation and repair process. The composite laminate has many concurrent phenomena for
impact load failure thus; it is very difficult to estimate the dynamic behaviour of laminates.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +020-66831765; fax: +020-66831703.

E-mail address:krjagtap_sits@sinhgad.edu

2214-7853 ©2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Conference Committee Members of 5th International Conference of Materials Processing and
Characterization (ICMPC 2016)
 Jagtap K.R. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469 2465

Qiu et al.[1] presented simulation of three groups of composite laminates and the numerical results are in good
agreement with corresponding experiments. Composite models with different impact energies and stacking
sequences were generated to understand the impact responses. The clustered plies in laminate were demonstrated so
as it significantly reduce interface damage. In this work, a numerical model considering composite fracture and
delamination is presented to study the behaviour of composites under impact. Interface cohesive elements are
inserted between plies following appropriate mixed mode damage laws to predict delamination. The study deals
with comparison of numerical analysis using the current model with existing experimental observations to validate
the model. Here the model is used to study the effect of stacking sequence, impact energy, indenter shape and plate
shape on the response of composites under low speed drop-weight impact. Bouvet et al.[2] investigated impact
damage and permanent indentation modelling. The different impact damage modes developed during low velocity
impact were simulated and investigated with numerical models. The three damage modes viz. matrix cracking,
delamination and fiber failure are simulated. The inter-laminar delaminatio n was simulated with interface elements
based on fracture mechanics. The simulation of intra-laminar damage, i.e. matrix cracks was performed using
interface elements based on failure criterion. In this work volume elements were used for simulation of fiber failure.
The study concludes that for the numerical optimization in design of composite structures with impact damage
tolerance, it is necessary to simulate the impact damage and the residual mechanical characteristics after impact,
using the same model.
Matrix cracking is the lowest level of failure induced by low-velocity impact. A matrix crack often extends across
the entire lamina with the crack tip touching the inter-laminar interface [3]. Matrix crack can be cause of
delamination along the interface during subsequent loading. The low energy impact often initiates delamination,
thus delamination is a significant damage mode. Although delamination does not provide high energy absorption
during the impact process, it represents significant degradation to composite materials [3]. Placing 90° laminate on
the outer faces of the laminate further decreases energy absorption by the reduction of delamination initiation loads.
Thus, a stacking sequence of [45/0] would have a higher delamination load than a stacking sequence of [90/0].
Delamination crack length can be found using the linear relationship between peak contact force and delamination
crack length. Fiber failure generally occurs much later in the fracture process than matrix cracking and delamination.
Penetration is the worst damage mode and is often investigated in ballistic loading.
In this analysis finite element simulation of low energy impact event is performed. The objective of this research
is to study the influence of clamped or simply supported boundary condition, impactor velocity on the impact
response of the composite laminate plate. Deformation and contact force are the major concerns in the impact
response. The numerical results are compared with existing literature. The behaviours are presented in curves of
contact force-time and deformation-time, impact energy-time.

1.1. Finite Element Simulation

The material properties for the impactor assigned as a rigid body and target composite laminate plate are shown
in table 2.

1.2. Mat_Composite_Failure_Solid_Model ( Mat_59a)

MAT59 is an orthotropic material model which uses maximum stress failure criterion. Once the maximum load is
reached along a particular direction, the corresponding stiffness is set to zero in a time interval of 100 times steps.
However, MAT 59 cannot predict delamination, and delamination plays a vital role in determining the impact
performance [4].
In the following maximum stress failure criterion[4], the initial ply failure is defined by the corresponding
longitudinal and transverse tensile and compressive strengths and the corresponding shear strength. These yield loci
are given to be:
2466 Jagtap K.R. et al.. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469

Tensile Failure

1 2 t
(1)
1 2 t

Table 1. Composite Laminate-5 Ply Geometry Configuration [1].

Stacking Plate Plate

Material
Sequence shape Dimensions

Carbon Rectangular 80 × 80 × 2.1

[0/90/0/90/0]
/Epoxy Plate mm

Compressive Failure

1 c
(2)
1 c

Shear Failure

12 23 13 c (3)
After initial yielding, the next yield point is based on the softening factor, ‘ strength’ i.e. corresponding
longitudinal/transverse tensile, compressive, or shear strength. The strength reduction factor, ranging from 0-1 also
affects the next yield point [4].
The cost of impact testing is high and a short time period event; thus finite element analysis was used to gain
additional information about the behaviour of the composite laminates subjected to impact loading. The simplest
model is verified by literature work. FEA was used to predict the stresses and strains induced in the laminate by a
low velocity projectile. Hypermesh and LS-DYNA finite element codes were used for the simulations.

Table 2. Material Properties Carbon Fibre/Epoxy Unidirectional Laminate 5 Ply[1].

Density 1763 (Kg/m3 )

12 0.31
Poisson’s Ratio 13 0.31
23 0.52
Young’s E1 143400
Modulus (E) E2 92700
(MPa) E3 92700
Shear G 12 3800
Modulus (G) G13 3800
(MPa) G23 3200
Longitudinal
2945
Tensile Strength (XT )
Longitudinal
1650
Strength Compressive Strength (XC)
(MPa) Transeverse
54
Tensile Stren gth (YT )
Transeverse
240
Compressive Strength (YC)

1.3. Initial Boundary Conditions

In this analysis initial conditions are specified for the impactor such as impact velocity (v) and boundary
 Jagtap K.R. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469 2467

The validation study is carried for impact response as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The spherical impactor of mass
6.5 kg, 12.7 mm diameter is impacted on composite plate with a velocity of 2.481 m/s i.e. 20 J.

1.4. Contact Conditions

In the present analysis type of contact and friction coefficient should be specified. There are eighteen different
types of contact available to accurately represent the physical model. In this simulation surface to surface (STS) and
node to surface (NTS) contact is utilized [6].

2. Results and Discussion

2.1. Validation and Convergence Study

The Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 shows the convergence study for force vs. time and displacement vs. time plots
respectively. The validation study is carried out with all edges clamped boundary conditions and Composite
Laminate-5 Ply Geometry Configuration is taken as shown in table 1[1].
.

Qiu et al. [1]

2mm
12 2.2mm
1.9mm
10

8
Force (kN)

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time (ms)

Fig. 1. Reaction force vs. Time response for composite laminate.

Qiu et al. [1]

2mm
0
2.2mm
1.9mm
-2
Displacement (mm)

-4

-6

-8

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (ms)
2468 Jagtap K.R. et al.. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469

A parametric study was carried out with varying mesh size. In this study mesh size of 2 mm gives comparable
results with literature results. The graphs generated are compared with the literature data. In present work some
deviations are observed in the validation study due to changes in methodology implemented.

2.2. Parametric study for Influence of impact energy and boundary condition

In this study response of composite laminate for varying impact energy and boundary conditions is investigated.

20
18
5J
16 10 J
14 20 J Clamped
20 J Simply Supported
12
Force (kN)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 3. Force vs. time response to varying impact energy.

Fig. 3 shows that with the increase in impact energy there is an increase in the reaction force (F). This is due to
the impact induced energy in composite laminate. In this study, Fig. 3 also shows, simply supported boundary
condition in FE model absorbs more energy than clamped boundary condition.

The comparison of experimental and numerical values for varying impact energy and mesh size of 2 mm is
shown in table 3.

Table 3. Experimental and numerical values of' Impact event

Max Maximum Absorbed

Force (KN) Deflection (mm) Energy (J)
Impact
Energy (J)

Exp. Sim. Exp. Sim Lit. Sim

5 2.47 3.05 4.47 2.8 1.09 2.35

10 4.02 5.05 5.89 4.5 4.06 4.1

20 4.71 7.51 8.61 7 6.33 6.3

 Jagtap K.R. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 2464–2469 2469

3. Conclusions

Finite element software is used effectively to simulate the low velocity impact scenario on composite structures
to predict exact failure modes. A FE model of 80 x 80 x 2.1 mm carbon/epoxy laminate plate (5 ply) and impactor
was successfully developed to analyse the damage due to low-velocity impact.

1. In present work validation and convergence study is carried out by using explicit solver LS-DYNA.
2. Validation study shown good agreement in force and displacement graphs with literature data.
3. The parametric study with varying impact energy and boundary conditions is helpful to understand the response
of composite laminate under low velocity impact.

References

[1] Mater Des, 60 (2014), 520–531.

[2] C. Bouvet , Rivallant S & Barrau J J , Low Velocity Impact Modeling in Composite Laminates Capturing Permanent Indentation, J Compos
Sci Technol, 72 (2012) 1977 -1988.
[3] S. C. Her, A. Qiu, K. Fu, W. Lin, C. Zhao, Y. Tang, Modelling low-speed drop-weight impact on composite laminates, J Y. C. Liang, The
finite element analysis of composite laminates and shell structures subjected to low velocity impact, Composite Struct, 66 (2004) 277–285.
[4] A. Chib, Parametric Study of Low Velocity Impact Analysis on Composite Tubes, Master of Science Thesis, Wichita State University,
Kansas, United States, 2006.
[5] Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC), LS-DYNA Keyword User Manual, 1 2007, pp. 1605 -1609.
[6] Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC), LS-DYNA Theory User Manual, 2006,pp. 19.91- 20.10.