A parametric study of the impact response and damage of laminated cylindrical composite shells

The impact response and the resulting damage of laminated composite shell objects by a metallic impactor are studied by means of the finite-element method. The effects of important problem parameters, such as impactor mass and velocity, shell curvature and stacking sequence of plies, are established. The impact force and the structural response accounting for large deformations are examined for the case of a cylindrical curved panel. Impact-induced damage, viz. matrix cracking and delaminations, are predicted by the use of appropriate failure criteria and the damaged regions are plotted. The stiffness matrix is modified during each time step to take account of this damage. The effect of other ambient factors such as the presence of an initial stress on the impact response in a full cylinder are also examined. Hertz's contact law is used to calculate the contact force between the impacting mass and the shell. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.