Parametric analysis of cohesive zone model method for CFRP stiffened panel CAI behaviour

This paper examined the effect of the stiffness of the cohesive elements on the accuracy and the computational efficiency of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) stiffened panels under ,Compression After Impact (CAI). Abaqus® software was used and the Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) method was applied to capture the damage initiation and propagation of the panels. Various case studies were examined and the effect of the stiffness parameters of the cohesive elements wascritically assessed. Moreover, the required number of cohesive zones to fully capture the damage mechanisms of the impacted and pristine panels under compressive loading was examined. The results showed that a wrong set of parameters can even lead to neglecting the induced damage and can cause severe convergence problems in the numerical model