Experimental and numerical studies on the low-velocity impact response of orthogrid epoxy panels reinforced with short plant fibers

Abstract

Abstract Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to analyze the low-velocity impact response of orthogrid stiffened panels reinforced with short alfa fibers. Tensile specimens and orthogrid panels were fabricated with two types of epoxy resins and different fractions of crushed and sieved alfa fibers (fiber volume fraction (V f ) from 10% to 50%). Impact tests were conducted on the orthogrid panels to investigate their low-velocity transverse impact behavior. The resistance to damage increased with an increase in fiber content and improvement in the mechanical properties of the composites (measured in static). Bending tests carried out on pre-impacted and non-impacted panels revealed a change in the linearity of the initial bending behavior, which could be justified by the small cracks generated by impact. A numerical model of impact on the orthogrid stiffened composite panels was developed using the nonlinear Hertz’s contact model. To simulate the failure mechanism and load-time history, a standard Tsai-Wu failure criterion was used on ANSYS explicit dynamic software. The simulations show a good correlation with the experimental data. The dominant stresses for damage evolution are found to be normal stresses. The presence of a stiffener reduces the stress, which confirms that stiffeners limit the propagation of damage.