Response of fiber reinforced composites to underwater explosive loads

An in-house developed, verified and fully validated three-dimensional finite element code, with rate dependent damage evolution equations for anisotropic bodies, is used to numerically ascertain the damage developed in a fiber-reinforced composite due to shock loads representative of those produced by an underwater explosion. Three internal variables characterize damage due to fiber/matrix debonding, fiber breakage, and matrix cracking. The delamination and relative sliding of adjoining layers has been simulated by the nodal release technique. The interaction among the four failure modes, and the possibility of their initiating concurrently at one or more points in the composite is considered. The effect of different parameters on the damage development and propagation, and energy absorbed in each one of the four failure modes has been examined. These results give preliminary information on composite structure’s design for maximizing the energy absorption and hence increasing structure’s resistance to blast loads. The paper is a sequel to Hassan and Batra’s paper [Composites B, 2007] wherein details of the damage model, verification of the code, and the validation of the mathematical model are given.