Simulation of Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID) and Compression After Impact (CAI) Sstrength of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite Laminates

Abstract

This work is focused on development of computational tools to predict the barely visible impact damage (BVID) and its effect on the residual strength measured through the compression after impact (CAI). A Finite Element (FE) based approach is used to model each of the 24 layers of the laminate individually and cohesive laws are used to model the delamination between the layers. The model is capable of capturing the damage due to low velocity impact (LVI) and the BVID predictions are measured and compared against the experimental results. Residual strength after impact is modeled using a second step, capturing the progressive failure under compression. A strong correlation is found between the experimental observations and model predictions. Details about the delamination between all the individual layers have been monitored and compared against the experimental data. Correlations between the BVID and residual strength are drawn to predict failure trends.