Testing and simulation of impact damaged stiffened CFRP-panels

Kurzfassung

In the present contribution, the residual strength behaviour of stiffened CFRP shells under axial compression loading is discussed. In this context, two stiffened CFRP panels are pre-damaged by impact and tested under axial compression until collapse. The panels without damage were tested before in order to obtain a reference result. Two different impact scenarios are investigated on a T- and a J-stringer stiffened panel, respectively. The damaged area is assessed by ultra-sonic (US) inspection. Load shortening data, strains as well as full field displacements are recorded during the test. Additionally to the experiments, the structural behaviour is simulated for the undamaged and damaged structures using the commercial FE-code Abaqus. The US inspection results of the impacted areas are transferred into the FE-models, and the stiffness and strength of affected elements are degraded accordingly. The numerical results are compared to the experimental findings. Through this approach, the influence of both impact scenarios on the structural behaviour of stiffened CFRP shells is assessed by test and simulation.