Impact force reconstruction in composite panels

In this study, a stiffened panel model developed in Abaqus/CAE is first validated, then numerical simulations are used to obtain data for several impacts, characterized by different impact locations and different energy (by changing the impactor mass and/or velocity). Geometrical nonlinearities of the dynamic system are considered in order to represent accurately the mechanics of the composite panel. Then the complex nonlinear behavior will be modeled through a nonlinear system identification approach, such as ANN, and an intelligent algorithm with global search capabilities, such as GA, will be used in sequence to accurately recovery the impact force peak and, therefore, properly evaluate the health status of the structure.