Post impact analysis of damaged variable-stiffness curved composite plates

This research studies the post impact response of damaged area of variable stiffness curved composite plates. Varying thicknesses of sections is widely found in aerospace and automotive composite sub structures. In this regard, the impact response of this geometry characteristic has to be studied in thin-walled structures. In our model, a removal of ply technique is used to represent damaged region within a curved panel, thus degrading the stiffness in that area is considered in the theoretical models. A summation of spring-mass systems is used in the modelling of damaged variable stiffness plate to analysis post impact behaviour of these structures. The theoretical force-time results are also compared with the relevant finite element outcomes in LSDYNA. The comparison establishes a good prediction capability of the proposed model.