Numerical approach to damages in a composite laminated plate under a low-velocity impact

This paper presents a numerical analysis of damage evolution process of composite laminated plate under a low-velocity impact using the finite element method and the first-order shear deformation theory. Various types of damages including delamination, matrix cracking, fiber failure and their influences on the mechanical behavior of the plate are studied. A simulation technique is proposed to model the damage initiation and evolution, and a computer program is developed and successfully used for long-fiber reinforced carbon/epoxy composite laminated plate with arbitrary stack sequence and fiber orientation. Validations against experiment results show that the proposed approach is capable of giving accurate prediction of impact damage behavior