Damage Tolerance Characteristics of Woven-Carbon/Epoxy Laminates under Low-Velocity Impact: Insights from Tests and Simulations
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This study investigated the low-velocity impact damage tolerance of woven AS4/8552 carbon/epoxy laminates through combined drop-weight testing and finite element simulation. Five eight-layer [|±45°|/|90°/0°|/|±45°|/|0°/90°|]s specimens were impacted at 8.25 J, and the resulting internal damage was characterized using ultrasonic C-scanning. A detailed FEM model was developed in ABAQUS using SC8R continuum-shell elements for the laminae and COH3D8 cohesive-zone elements for interlaminar delamination, with Hashin failure criteria and the Benzeggagh–Kenane mixed-mode fracture law governing damage initiation and propagation. The numerical model reproduced the main experimental impact response, predicting a peak force of 4950 N compared with the experimental mean of 4360 N, corresponding to a 13% overestimation. The predicted delamination footprint also agreed well with C-scan observations, which showed delamination diameters ranging from 15.9 to 19.9 mm, with an average of 17.9 mm. However, the simulation underestimated absorbed energy by approximately 40% and produced smoother delamination boundaries than those observed experimentally. These discrepancies are attributed to the homogeneous cohesive-zone representation and continuum-shell formulation, which cannot fully capture fiber bridging, microcracking, interlaminar friction, and local stress perturbations caused by woven yarn undulations. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework is effective for predicting the global delamination extent and impact response of aerospace-representative woven laminates, while highlighting key improvements required for higher-fidelity damage-tolerance assessment.
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