CEAS Aeronautical Journal

, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp 253–264 | Cite as

Validation of damage modelling in composite fuselage structures under high velocity impact

  • Alastair F. Johnson
  • Nathalie Toso-Pentecôte
  • Sebastian Kilchert
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

The paper discusses finite element (FE) simulation methods in use for predicting impact damage in advanced composite structures. Before these simulation tools are accepted by the industry for design and certification of composite aircraft structures, composites damage models have to be developed, implemented in commercial FE codes and validation studies at specimen and substructure level have to be performed. For vulnerability analysis, the DLR uses meso-scale composites ply damage models with an energy-based delamination failure criteria in explicit FE codes to study damage progression in composite structures under impact. The methods developed are summarised in the paper and applied to predict impact damage in stiffened aircraft panels and novel foldcore sandwich structures from hard debris. Issues concerned with use of such computational methods for certification by analysis are discussed.

Keywords

Composite damage Delamination models FE code developments Stiffened aircraft panels Foldcore sandwich panels Simulation of impact damage Certification by analysis 

Abbreviations

FE

Finite element

FAA

Federal Aviation Administration

CDM

Continuum damage mechanics

UD

Unidirectional

NDT

Non-destructive testing

HVI

High velocity impact

CFRP

Carbon fibre reinforced plastic

CT

Computed tomography

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Notes

Acknowledgments

Part of the work presented here was carried out in the EU FP 6 Project CELPACT [14] and is being continued in Maaximus [1]. The authors wish to acknowledge the EC funding and support of partners in these projects.

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Copyright information

© Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Alastair F. Johnson
    • 1
  • Nathalie Toso-Pentecôte
    • 1
  • Sebastian Kilchert
    • 1
  1. 1.German Aerospace Center (DLR)Institute of Structures and DesignStuttgartGermany

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