A numerical study of the dynamic response of sandwich plates initially damaged by low-velocity impact

A finite element (FE) model has been developed for the analysis of the dynamic response of sandwich plates with impact-induced damage involving core crushing, face sheet damage and core-to-face sheet debonding. The effect of intermittent contact in fragments detached at the damaged interface due to the impact event is examined. Simulation of the strongly nonlinear transient and steady-state dynamic responses of impact-damaged sandwich plates are carried out with the FE code ABAQUS. The potential of the obtained numerical results for detecting and locating impact-induced damage is discussed.