Current research into modelling of shock damage to large scale composite panels

This study aims to model the damage incurred to large woven roving E-glass/vinyl-ester composite panels subjected to shock loads, with particular emphasis on developing an effective, simple to use delamination model. An energy criterion for failure is applied at resin-rich layers, which are modelled in between every ply. The finite element program Abaqus/Explicit together with a user material subroutine (VUMAT) is used to simulate both large and small scale impact tests. The resin-rich layers are modelled as non-linear elastic and matrix and fibre damage is modelled at the woven plies using Hashin’s 2D stressbased failure criteria with a once-only degradation of the material properties.