This paper on "A Specialised Plate Element for the Analysis of Impact Damaged Composite Laminates" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Design, Simulation & Optimisation: Reliability & Applicability of Computational Methods - 9-11 April 1997, Stuttgart, Germany.

Summary

A specialised layered composite finite element has been developed based on the standard formulation for a thick plate element. The element is intended to be used for the analysis of the compressive behaviour of impact damaged CFRP laminates containing fibre cracks and delaminations. The element allows delaminated laminae to be joined together easily by using the simple method of shifting the position of the mid-plane of the element relative to the laminae it represents. In addition the element includes a small initial out of plane displacement to enable buckle initiation to take place without requiring normal forces to be applied. The element is demonstrated to function correctly by comparing the results of an analysis of a circular delamination with those of a full three dimensional analysis. An analysis is then carried out for a laminate containing a simplified form of impact damage to compare the results of the analysis with experimental observations.