Co-authors​ :

 Bin BIN YANG (UNITED KINGDOM) 

The paper presents a study on the high-velocity impact (HVI) behaviour of composite sandwich structures based on experimental testing and numerical modelling. The composite sandwich structure consists of two ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHWMPE) laminates and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam core. A series of HVI tests were conducted on the UHWMPE/PET foam sandwich structures to investigate the HVI performance and damage mechanisms. X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) characterisation method was used to detect the internal damage patterns in the sandwich structures. A finite element (FE) model was developed, incorporating Puck’s failure criteria for intra-layer failure, cohesive law for inter-layer failure and crushable foam plasticity model combined with ductile damage criterion for foam failure. After validation of the proposed model by experimental results, the damage mechanism of the sandwich structures under various HVI loading was numerically examined, and the effects of impact velocity on the failure patterns and residual velocity were discussed.