Low-velocity impact behavior of hollow core woven sandwich composite: Experimental and numerical study

Low-velocity impact analysis of 3D woven hollow core sandwich composite was conducted experimentally and numerically. Damage modes, perforation loads, load-time and energy-time curves, contact time, force-displacement and deflection-energy relationships were studied for three energy levels on specimens with different thicknesses utilizing both FE simulations and low-velocity impact tests. According to the results, contact stiffness and perforation load decreased with the panel thickness, whereas panels of higher thicknesses exhibited higher energy absorption capacity. The FE model consisting of glass fabric and surrounding resin reasonably predicted the impact behavior and damage modes. Subsequently, it could be inferred that FE simulation is capable to be used instead of time-consuming experiments to study impact properties of such materials.