Modelling fabric reinforced composites under impact loads

The paper describes recent progress on the materials modelling and numerical simulation of the in-plane response of fibre reinforced composite structures. Acontinuum damage mechanics model for fabric reinforced composites under in-plane loads is presented. It is based on methods developed for UD ply materials which are generalized here to fabric reinforcements. The model contains elastic damage in the fibre directions, with an elastic-plastic model for inelastic shear effects. Test data on a glass fabric/epoxy laminate show the importance of inelastic effects in shear. A strategy is described for determining model parameters from the test data. The fabric model is being implemented in an explicit FE code for use in crash and impact studies and preliminary results are presented on a plate impact simulation