Dynamic response and damage analysis of fiber-reinforced composite laminated plates under low-velocity oblique impact

Fiber-reinforced composite laminates (FRCL) is susceptible to the external impacting. Understanding the crack propagation and structural mechanical properties of the damaged FRCL under low-velocity oblique impact is of great value in practical application. A new analytical dynamic model is developed in this work to research the dynamic response and damage property of FRCL under oblique impacting. The displacement field and strain–displacement relations of the FRCL are established by utilizing higher-order shear plate theory. The matrix damage and fiber rupture in FRCL under oblique impacting are captured by an internal variable-based continuum damage constitutive relation. To accurately predict the oblique impacting force, an analytical dynamic impacting model is proposed basing on a developed contact model, where normal and tangential contact is coupled and solved simultaneously. The whole initial boundary value problem is iteratively solved by synthetically using finite differential method and Newmark-β method. The solving convergence and accuracy of the model is demonstrated and validated. Simulations show that the matrix damage is more easily to appear in FRCL under shear force due to oblique contact when under oblique impacting, and the damage profile is different from normal impacting. The dynamic responses of the FRCL plate under oblique impacting differ also greatly from normal impacting. The current research provides a theoretical basis for FRCL design and its engineering application when under low-velocity impacting.