EXPERIMENTAL, ANALYTICAL, AND NUMERICAL STUDIES OF COMPOSITE SANDWICH PANELS UNDER LOW-VELOCITY IMPACT LOADINGS

The objective of this research is to compare the numerical and experimental results with a closed-form solution for the dynamic responses of composite sandwich panels subjected to a low-velocity impact. An equivalent two-degree-of-freedom system is used to predict the response at different boundary conditions. The experimental results were obtained from drop-weight impact tests. Numerical calculations were performed using the LS-DYNA software to verify the analytical results. The numerical simulation showed a good agreement with experimental data. Meanwhile, with increasing impact velocity, the analytical model showed some disagreement with experiment. This can be explained by the static analysis and minimization of the potential energy used in the model.