Low-energy impact response of composite and sandwich composite plates with piezoelectric sensory layers

• Computationally efficient impact mechanics methodology.
• Prediction of global and local through-thickness impact response.
• Prediction of interlaminar shear stresses at ply interfaces.
• Predictions validated with analytical and experimental results.

An efficient model reduction based methodology is presented for predicting the global (impact force, plate deflection and electric potential) and through-thickness local (interfacial strains and stresses) dynamic response of pristine simply-supported cross-ply composite and sandwich composite plates with piezoelectric sensory layers subjected to low-energy impact. The through-thickness response of the laminate is modelled using coupled higher-order layerwise displacement-based piezoelectric laminate theories. Linearized contact laws are implemented for simulating the impactor–target interaction during impact. The stiffness, mass, piezoelectric and permittivity matrices of the plate are formulated from ply to structural level and reduced by applying a Guyan reduction technique to yield the structural system in state space. This reduction technique enables the formulation of a plate–impactor structural system of minimum size (1 term per vibration mode for composite plates – 2 terms for sandwich plates) and reduces computational cost, thus facilitating applicability for real-time impact and vibration control.