Comparative Study on the Experimental Results on Low-Velocity Impact Characteristics of GLARE Laminates with Simulation Results from LS Dyna

Fiber reinforcement with metallic face sheets is one of the recently implemented materials for distinctive applications in automotive and aerospace sectors. While the reinforcement enhances the sustenance property of the laminate, the face sheets provide resistance to impact force. In most automotive sectors, drop weight analysis at varying velocity ranges is performed to evaluate the damage characteristics of the vehicle body. The present work is aimed at studying the influence of low-velocity impact (LVI) on Glass Laminate Aluminum-Reinforced Epoxy (GLARE) laminate. Three distinct thicknesses of Al-2024 T3 aluminum alloy (0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 mm) were chosen as the face sheet and E-glass fiber was used as intermediate layers. Epoxy resin LY556 with a HY951 hardener was used to fabricate the GLARE structure and the overall thickness was maintained at 2.0 mm for all the cases. Energy absorbed by GLARE laminates for different energy was determined using Drop weight Impact test experimentally and analytically. The laminate and the dart were modeled by ANSYS ACP tool and the simulation was performed using LS Dyna software. It was evident that laminate can sustain impact at a velocity of 3.13 m/s and beyond which leads to surface delamination. The simulation results were in close agreement with the experimental values for the absorbed energy, with less than 10% error.