impact behaviors of repaired CFRP laminates

What is it about?

Low-velocity impact behaviors of repaired CFRP laminates: Effect of impact location and external patch configurations, have been investigated using experimental and numerical approaches. Various external patches with different thicknesses (number of layers) and stacking sequences are considered and those patches are used to repair single side of the damaged laminate plates to improve the impact-resistance. To predict the damage initiation and progression of the repaired CFRP laminates under impact loading, a continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model that combines 3D Hashin damage criteria and cohesive zone model (CZM) is proposed. The corresponding drop-weight impact tests are conducted to experimentally obtain the impact response such as impact force and energy. Numerical impact simulations have been performed to study the effect of impact location during the low-velocity impact behaviors of repaired structures. Parametric studies of patch thickness and stacking sequence are also carried out using the low-velocity impact simulation to analyze their effect on the impact-resistance. Finally, this study provides an optimization cafeteria to identify the important design parameter to perform external patch repair based on the simulation results.

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Why is it important?

CFRP laminates are weak under impact loading. there are lot of various patch repair techniques used during maintenance of CFRP laminates. This study is important to understand the post impact behavior on a patch repaired CFRP specimen.