Ice vs. steel: Ballistic impact of woven carbon/epoxy composites. Part II - Numerical modelling

Part I of this study covered ballistic tests, in which both solid (steel) and fragmenting (ice) spherical projectiles were fired at specimens of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite. The velocity of impacts varied from 70 to 90 m/s for the solid projectiles and from 300 to 500 m/s for the fragmenting projectiles, resulting in three consistent and comparable levels of structural damage for both types of projectiles. The observed dynamic deformation behaviour and resultant damage were examined using a combination of non-invasive analysis techniques. The focus of this Part II is on the development of a mesoscale modelling strategy for CFRP employing a phenomenological continuum-damage approach. The developed model was validated against the data from original ballistic-impact experiments, demonstrating accurate predictions of both deformation behaviour and observed resultant damage of tested specimens for the various experimental loading conditions without modification of the modelling parameters.