| Summary: | The main focus of this thesis has been towards understanding the local penetration behaviour
of a CFRP laminate undergoing quasi-static out-of-plane loading. This information is
necessary for predicting dynamic impact behaviour.
An experimental program was performed that characterized the damage mechanisms
occurring during penetration and confirmed the validity of model assumptions. The principal
test consisted of a 7.62 mm diameter blunt-nosed cylindrical indenter penetrating various
thicknesses of CFRP coupons supported over a rectangular opening. Even though some
additional experimental data is yet required for a complete study, the necessary
characterization tests have been identified, and, in some cases, developed.
A simple analytical model to describe the quasi-static penetration process was developed
giving an approximate prediction of the force-displacement behaviour. This model was based
upon actual physical phenomena and used an approximate energy method to predict the
displacement profile of the delaminated plate. Good correlation was found between the
predicted delamination sizes and those measured using C-scans.
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