Numerical investigation on steel fibre reinforced cementitious composite panels subjected to high velocity impact loading

• Effect of fibre volume and panel thickness on impact performance is highlighted.
• Critical parameter indicating scabbing phenomenon is identified.
• Critical parameter to model post peak behaviour of fibre composites is identified.
• Numerical investigations found to corroborate well with impact experiments.
• Design chart is developed to determine safe thickness of panel for given fibre volume and projectile.

Steel fibre reinforced cementitious composite (SFRCC) panels are numerically investigated for their performances under high velocity impact of short projectiles. Numerical responses are obtained using advanced constitutive material model of Riedel–Hiermaier–Thoma (RHT) for cementitious materials and adopting appropriate modelling techniques. Effects of steel fibre volume and the thickness of panels on the impact performance are mainly highlighted in this paper. Various characteristics phenomenon during impact on cementitious composite panels namely, spalling, cracking, scabbing and perforation, are captured which is a difficult task. Scabbing is likely to occur when tensile stresses at the back face of the panel exceed dynamic tensile strength of the material. Various critical aspects in numerical modelling like boundary conditions, material input parameters, and handling severe distortion of the Lagrangian based finite elements are appropriately explained. Design chart is also developed to determine optimum fibre volume and thickness for an impact energy level up to 2.2 kJ. The numerically predicted impact responses are found to corroborate well with experimental results.

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