Peridynamic modeling of low-velocity impact damage in laminated composites reinforced with z-pins

Abstract

In this study, a new approach for predicting damage and specific failure modes in laminated fiber reinforced composites is presented. The new method is based on the peridynamic theory and models individual plies, and represents fiber and matrix materials in each ply explicitly. These features enable analysis of laminates with arbitrary fiber orientation in a convenient manner. Additionally, a new failure mode identification algorithm has been developed and implemented. Instead of the conventional peridynamic damage parameter, the new algorithm works with individual broken bonds, which makes identification of different failure modes including matrix cracking, fiber breakage, and delamination straight-forward and unambiguous. The new peridynamic approach is demonstrated by considering the low-velocity impact damage on composite laminates with and without translaminar reinforcements. The translaminar reinforcement technique considered in this study is z-pinning; two different geometric configurations of z-pins are explored. The impact testing and the post-impact nondestructive evaluations with ultrasonic c-scans are performed at the Air Force Research Laboratory to characterize the delaminations. The impact tests on different samples are simulated using the current peridynamic approach. The predicted impact damage failure modes are compared against the experimental measurements. The new approach is shown to capture low-velocity impact damage both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Element‐based coupling modeling of peridynamics and classical continuum mechanics for dynamic brittle fracture

“…Therefore, it has natural advantages in fracture analysis. This model has been widely used to analyze the progressive failure and crack propagation in concrete structures, 18,19 damage in laminated fiber‐reinforced composites, 20,21 fatigue crack propagation, 22,23 and metal material corrosion 24,25 …”

Peridynamic computational homogenization theory for materials with evolving microstructure and damage

“…Peridynamics (PD) [1] has been used to solve a wide range of engineering problems since its introduction, and particularly, it is increasingly used to study the behaviour of composite materials [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. When modelling composite materials with a complex microstructure resulting from manufacturing processes and oftentimes random distribution of constituent particles [33], it is a common practise to replace highly heterogeneous properties with effective material properties to avoid the costly computational requirement of numerical simulation that will directly resolve information from all relevant scales for the entire computational domain.…”

An energy-equivalent bridging map formulation for modelling delamination in through-thickness reinforced composite laminates

“…Two length scales are typically required on such approaches: the micro-scale where the individual z-pin behaviour is modelled and the macro-scale where the combined behaviour of arrays of z-pins needs to be considered. Analytical (14,15) and highfidelity numerical models (16)(17)(18)(19) of the z-pin embedded in a composite laminate make it possible to predict the bridging effect of an individual z-pin. This prediction can then be used as input data for large macro-scale models of structural components.…”