Low-Velocity Impact Response Analysis of Laminated Composite Cylindrical Shells Subjected to Combined Pre-Loads

In this paper, the low-velocity impact response of laminated composite cylindrical shells subjected to the combined pre-loads is investigated. The pre-load is applied as the mechanical pre-load (axial force and radial pressure) and the thermal pre-load. The boundary conditions are considered as simply supported and the behavior of the material is linear-elastic. The equations are based on the first-order shear deformation theory and the Fourier series method is used to solve the analytical equations. The impactor studied as a large mass and therefore the impact response is considered to be quasi-static. The results show that regardless of the type of the axial pre-load (tensile or compressive), changes in contact parameters during the impact are linearly related to the temperature changes. Furthermore, these variations with respect to the radial pressure is almost linear for the tensile axial pre-load, but it is nonlinear for the compressive axial pre-load.