A three-dimensional elastic-plastic damage model for predicting the impact behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer-matrix composites

A three-dimensional (3-D) Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model incorporating an elastic-plastic (EP) damage model, which was implemented as a user-defined material (‘VUMAT’) sub-routine in a FEA code (‘Abaqus/Explicit’), is developed to simulate the impact response of carbon-fibre reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composites. The model predicts the load versus time and the load versus displacement responses of the composite during the impact event....