23rd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 8-13 September, 2002, Toronto, Canada
Paper ICAS 2002-R34

NUMERICAL MODELLING OF LOW-VELOCITY IMPACT DAMAGE IN FIBRE-METAL-LAMINATES

J. Laliberte (1), C. Poon (1), P. V. Straznicky (2)
(1) National Research Council, Canada; (2) Carleton University, Canada

Keywords: impact, fibre-metal laminates, finite element modelling, damage

Fibre-metal-laminates (FMLs), hybrid laminates of metal and composites, are a relatively new family of airframe materials. These laminates combine lower density, higher strength and improved damage tolerance. The response of FMLs to impact loading must be determined before applying them to aircraft structures. The objective of this research was to develop an impact modelling methodology for FMLs. The development of a material subroutine in LS-DYNA for the prepreg in one type of FML was required. The results of the simulations showed that delamination was not a critical damage mode in FMLs under low-velocity impact loads.

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