Title: Computational parametric study of low-velocity impact response of composite cylinder for automotive components

Authors: Marcelo Leite Ribeiro; Ricardo De Medeiros

Addresses: Department of Aeronautical Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. João Dagnone – 1100, 13573-120, São Carlos, SP, Brazil ' Department of Aeronautical Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. João Dagnone – 1100, 13573-120, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

Abstract: Composite materials have found applications in a wide range of industries, such as automotive and aerospace, because of numerous advantages including low weight, high monotonic and fatigue strengths and the possibility of manufacturing large integral shell structures. In this study, a material model was applied in order to simulate low-velocity impact analysis on filament winding composite cylinders made of epoxy resin reinforced by carbon fibres. The damage mechanisms were evaluated by a material model developed by Ribeiro et al. (2012), which was implemented as a FORTRAN subroutine (VUMAT - user material subroutine for explicit integration analyses) and linked to the ABAQUSTM software. In this investigation, several cases, such as mesh density, element type, contact algorithm and damping effects, are investigated in order to verify the influence of theses parameters. In each case, the numerical results were compared with experimental analysis. The best procedure is proposed which can serve as benchmark method in low-velocity impact modelling of composite structures for future investigations.

Keywords: composite structures; damage modelling; finite element analysis; FEA; filament winding; low-velocity impact; impact response; composite cylinders; composites; automotive components; carbon fibre reinforced epoxy resin; mesh density; element type; contact algorithm; damping effects.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAUTOC.2015.070557

International Journal of Automotive Composites, 2015 Vol.1 No.2/3, pp.131 - 157

Received: 03 Jul 2014
Accepted: 02 Dec 2014

Published online: 10 Jul 2015 *

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