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U.S. Department of Energy
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Low velocity impact damage in composite sandwich beams

Book ·
OSTI ID:109714
 [1];  [2]
  1. ITRI, Hsinchu (Taiwan, Province of China)
  2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Impact damage in sandwich beams consisting of graphite/epoxy face sheets and Rohacell foam core was investigated. Low velocity impact tests were conducted to investigate damage mechanisms and damage modes in the face sheet and the core. The major modes of failure included local yielding of the core, matrix cracking and delamination in the face laminate. A finite element analysis was performed to predict the onset of matrix cracking composite laminate using the maximum principal stress failure criterion. Subsequent delamination was analyzed using fracture mechanics. In the analysis the core was assumed to be elastic-plastic. The predicted delamination crack length agreed very well with the experimental data.
OSTI ID:
109714
Report Number(s):
CONF-950521--; ISBN 1-56676-313-4
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English