A Numerical Study on the Impact Behaviour of an All-composite Wing-box

In this work a numerical study on the impact behavior of an all composite wing-box is presented. The numerical analyses have been performed by means of advanced numerical models implemented in Abaqus/Explicit. The aim was to estimate the intra-laminar and inter-laminar damage behaviour in a localized area, and, by a Global-local approach, to investigate the impact influence on the overall structural behaviour. The numerical investigation of complex composite structures under several impact conditions in terms of impact position and energy can complement the experimental results potentially leading to a reduction of the experimental tests to be performed with considerable time and cost saving.