A nonlinear solid shell element formulation for analysis of composite panels under blast wave pressure loading

A comprehensive methodology to accurately predict the dynamic response of composite panels under blast wave pressure loading has been successfully developed for the first time. It includes the modeling of geometrically nonlinear dynamic effect, progressive failure and strain-rate effect on constitutive equation and strength. For dynamic analysis, a nonlinear solid shell element formulation is combined with the trapezoidal rule for numerical integration in time.; The progressive damage incorporates the effect of the material failure, such as fiber failure, matrix cracking and fiber-matrix shearing failure on the stiffness and strength. Material degradation models based on the rule of mixtures are proposed for each failure mode. To implement the strain-rate effect on the constitutive equation of the material, a viscoplastic model is adopted. In this model, three material parameters are determined by conducting uniaxial tension tests on off-axis specimen. The effect of strain rates on material strength is implemented via the linear least square fit of the test data.; A key ingredient of the analysis is a geometrically nonlinear solid shell element based on the assumed strain formulation to alleviate element locking. In this approach, the composite shell is treated as a three-dimensional solid. Accordingly, the change of shell thickness is allowed and the kinematics of deformation is described by six vector components at a point on the shell midsurface. The mass matrix always remains constant during the analysis.; Example problems under static and dynamic loadings are solved to investigate the behavior of composite panels undergoing large deformation while experiencing material damage. The analysis results are compared with the test data available. Results of the numerical analysis show that the effect of the progressive failure and strain-rates on structural responses are considerable. For a composite plate under static pressure loadings, maximum displacement and structural collapse load match well with the experimental data when the progressive failure effect is included. For a composite panel under blast wave loadings, the maximum displacements obtained by numerical analysis are in good agreement with the test data.