NORMALIZED IMPACT RESPONSE AND DAMAGE IN A THIN COMPOSITE LAMINATE SUPPORTED BY A RIGID SUBSTRATE

The local impact response and damage of thin composite laminates are i nvestigated. The impact model uses a static contact law which incorpor ates damage effects due to local contact stresses. A major difference between this contact law and the others used previously is that the da mage is accounted for during the loading rather than during the unload ing phase which is expected to yield a more reasonable prediction of t he maximum impact force. Normalization of the governing differential e quations and initial conditions yields a single governing parameter, w hich is a dimensionless group of all the pertinent impact parameters ( i.e., impact velocity, impactor mass, material and geometric propertie s). The introduction of this parameter not only simplifies the problem but also provides the necessary scaling rules for model testing.