Experimental assessment and model development of FRP sandwich panels subjected to out-of-plane impact loading

Experimental assessment and model development of FRP sandwich panels subjected to out-of-plane impact loading

Schipperen, J.H.A.

2015

Fibre reinforced composites are lightweight, strong materials that are increasingly used in all sorts of applications. When loaded in-plane, the material is very strong due to the profitable properties of the fibres. Therefore, the design is normally such that the predominant loading condition is in-plane. However, out-of-plane loading is not always avoidable, especially in incidental loadings such as collisions or impact. Then the relatively weak resin-dominated properties are addressed. There is much less research on the behavior of composites in these conditions. In a joint industry project in a Dutch open innovation alliance “Groot Composiet”, this issue was addressed. The behaviour of two types of composite sandwich panels, thin and thick under impact was studied both experimentally and numerically. The thin sandwich panels are mostly representative for applications in ships, while the thick panels could be applied as a bridge. Drop tower experiments were performed on several designs specific to the partners in the project. Delamination in the skin and failure within the core material was identified. Prior to the project numerical models existed that could predict these types of damages very accurately. However, these models are very computationally demanding. Therefore, two numerical models were developed within this project for delamination and core failure prediction. The main focus of these models was to provide relatively quick, but reasonably accurate, finite element techniques. Sandwich composite panels can show a high resistance to impact. The panels developed by the partners in the project without exception behaved very well, normally only showing a localized damage. Delaminations were well predicted with the numerical model. Core failure could be predicted with sufficient accuracy for panels with a structural foam core. The results for non-structural foams were more sensitive to material and loading variations.

Fluid & Solid Mechanics
SD - Structural Dynamics
TS - Technical Sciences
Maritime & Offshore
Marine
Energy
GFRP sandwich panels
Impact
Out-of-plane loading
Experiment
Failure modelling

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d293504a-f1d0-43f0-aee7-05a740cd3a8a

527578

20th International Conference on Composite Materials, Copenhagen, 19-24th July, 2015, 1-12

conference paper