Sequence of damage events occurring in the course of low energy impact

Finite element simulation was carried out to better understand damage formation in CF/epoxy plate in the course of a low velocity 8J impact. The plate under investigation was of [+30/−30]s lay-up. To validate the numerical results a drop test was carried out with the help of a drop tower. The interlaminar damage extent was determined with the help of C-scan. Comparison between the numerical and experimental results showed a good quantitative agreement concerning contact force time history, however, the amount of dissipated energy determined based on the numerical simulation was lower than that from the experiment,consistently, the damage extent determined based on numerical simulation was smaller than that determined by C-scan. Nevertheless, characteristic points on the plot representing contact force time history could be related to the particular damage mechanism onsets and their actions.