Numerical and experimental investigations of the low velocity impact in GFRP plates

The paper deals with experimental and numerical investigations of the composite plate subjected to low velocity impact (LVI). The discussed plates were made of eight-layer Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) laminate with quasi-isotropic ply system and are predefined to conduct the impact and the Compression After Impact (CAI) tests. The numerical analyses were performed in Ansys® environment. Three numerical models were prepared. The implicit analyses were conducted with and without the implementation of the progressive failure algorithm and the application of the bilinear traction-separation law. The analyzed problem demonstrated the influence of the element-level time-incrementation, damping and time integration method (Newmark and Hilber-Hughes-Taylor) on agreement with the experimental results. The advantages of using impact constraints for modeling contact in a nonlinear transient dynamic analysis were shown. High consistency of numerical and experimental results was achieved. Application of the Hashin's criterion lead to a valid prediction of the fiber failure areas and to overestimation of the matrix failure areas.