• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.42-50
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• 2007

This paper describes the results of experiments and numerical simulation studies on the low-velocity impact damage of two different sandwich composite panels for application to bodyshell and floor structure of the BIMODAL tram vehicle. Square test samples of 100mm sides were subjected to low-velocity impact loading using an instrumented testing machine at four impact energy levels. Part of this work presented is focused on the finite element analysis of low-velocity impact response onto a sandwich composite panels. It is based on the application of explicit finite element (FE) analysis codes LS-DYNA 3D to study the impact response of sandwich structures under low-velocity impact conditions. Material testing was conducted to determine the input parameters for the metallic and composite material model, and the effective equivalent damage model for the orthotropic honeycomb materials. Numerical and experimental results showed a good agreement for damage area and the depth of indentation of sandwich composite panels created by the impact loading.