Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082

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Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

Dynamic properties of 3-D orthogonal woven composite

T-beam under transverse impact
Ayou Hao a, Baozhong Sun a, Yiping Qiu a, Bohong Gu a,b,*
a
College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
b
Department of Textile Engineering, Zhongyuan Institute of Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan Province 450007, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The quasi-static indentation and transverse impact behavior of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam
Received 16 November 2007 were investigated with a universal material tester (MTS 810.23) and a modified split Hopkinson pressure
Received in revised form 19 March 2008 bar (SHPB), respectively. The load–displacement and energy–displacement curves were obtained to ana-
Accepted 27 April 2008
lyze the damage of the composite T-beam under three kinds of impact velocities. Finite element analysis
which based on unit-cell model of the 3-D orthogonal woven composite and user-defined material sub-
routine was conducted to calculate the dynamic responses. The good agreement between experimental
Keywords:
and FEM results reveals the composite damage mechanisms and energy absorption features of the T-
A. Three-dimensional reinforcement
B. Impact behavior
beam with different flange height.
C. Finite element analysis (FEA) Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T-beam

1. Introduction the feasibility of constructing composite glass-adhesive T-beams

Compared to laminated composites and other 3-D textile struc-
tural composites [1], 3-D orthogonal woven composite has been
recognized as more competitive because of its higher stiffness
and strength in three orthogonal directions [2]. The 3-D orthogonal
woven composite allows the tailoring of properties for specific
applications and shows better delamination resistance and damage
tolerance [3], especially in thickness direction [4]. The static
mechanical property of 3-D wove composite have been studied
by many researchers, such as Kuo and Lee [5], Baucom et al. [6],
Naik et al. [7], Hosur et al. [8–13], Khan et al. [14] and Haque
and Hossain [15]. The impact responses of the 3-D woven compos-
ite could be found from the researches of Naik et al. [16–19], Bahei-
El-Din et al [20,21], Shahkarami and Vaziri [22], Sun and Gu [23],
Luo et al. [24], Ji and Kim [25] and Ji et al. [26].
T-beam is a very common structure in aircrafts, ships, vehicles
and civil engineering. The mechanical behavior of composite T-
beam can be optimized by the appropriate arrangements of fiber
tows and fabric constructions. For example, LopezAnido and Gang-
aRao [27] presented a warping solution for prismatic thin-walled
orthotropic composite beams. Pye and Ledbetter [28] explored
for use in the construction of wall, roof and canopy structures. Gen-
dron et al. [29] investigated the shear strengthening of reinforced
concrete T-beams by means of thin fiber–reinforced composite
plates and discussed the effects of some design parameters on
the ultimate shear strength. However, the mechanical properties
of the T-beam manufactured from the 3-D woven composite have
not been reported in detail so far, especially for the dynamic
behavior and impact responses.
This paper will investigate the mechanical properties and en-
ergy absorption of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam under
quasi-static and impact loading. A unit-cell model of the 3-D
orthogonal woven composite will be established to characterize
the stiffness matrix and damage evolution of the 3-D woven com-
posite. A commercial available FEM code of ABAQUS will be incor-
porated with a user-defined subroutine UMAT /VUMAT to calculate
dynamic responses of the 3-D woven composite T-beam.
2. Materials and testing methods
2.1. Three-dimensional orthogonal woven fabric

Table 1 lists the specifications of 3-D orthogonal woven fabric.

* Corresponding author. Address: College of Textiles, Donghua University,
Shanghai 201620, China. Tel.: +86 21 67792661/86 371 67698880; fax: +86 21
67792627/86 371 62506970.
E-mail address: gubh@dhu.edu.cn (B. Gu).
The schematic diagram of the fabric is shown in Fig. 1. The fabric
used in this study consists of 2400 tex (Tex is a basic textile unit
of linear density — the weight in grams of a fiber 1 km in length.
Units = g/km = (g/cm)  105) E-glass filament tows as warp and

1359-835X/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2008.04.012
1074 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082

Table 1
Specification of 3-D orthogonal woven fabric

Yarns Specifications
Species Layers Linear density (tex) Density (ends/10 cm)
Warp yarn E-glass Three 2400 50.6
Weft yarn E-glass Four 2400 49.5
Binder yarn E-glass – 1200 –

weft yarns and 1200 tex E-glass filament tows as binder yarns,
which are interweaved with 90° each other.

2.2. Three-dimensional orthogonal woven composite T-beam

T-beams used in testing were manufactured from the 3-D woven

fabric. Three pieces of fabrics were used in manufacturing. One is
for the web of the T-beam. Other two fabrics were bended as a
shape of ‘L’ and put on the web to form flange of the T-beam. Then
the fabrics were stitched together as a fabric T-beam. The stitching
fiber tow is TwaronÒ aramid filaments (type: TwaronÒ CT1000,
3360 dtex/2000 f, manufactured by Akzo Nobel). TwaronÒ is a kind
of aramid fiber (poly paraphenylene terepthalamide, PPTA) similar
to that of KevlarÒ of Dupont De Nemours. The yellow yarns shown
in Fig. 2 are the stitch yarn. Then the 3-D woven fabric T-beam was
consolidated into the composite T-beam with unsaturated resin.
The unsaturated polyester resin was injected into the preform
by VARTM (vacuum assisted resin transfer molding) technique
and then consolidated in the condition of vacuum and room tem-
perature for 12 h. The fiber volume fraction is about 60%. The ulti-
mate manufactured 3-D orthogonal woven Composite T-beam is
shown in Fig. 2. The length of the T-beam coupon is 115 mm, the
thickness of T-beam web and flange are both 14 mm, the height
of the flange is 20 mm.

2.3. Apparatus for quasi-static test

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the quasi-static test was performed on
MTS 810.23 materials tester system at the speed of 2 mm/min.
The rod is a steel bar with a hemisphere-head at one end. The
diameter of the steel bar is 14.5 mm. The T-beams were clamped
between two steel holders. The steel bar contacted with the center
point of the web plane in T-beam.
2.4. Apparatus for transverse impact test
The transverse impact tests were carried out at a modified split
Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus as shown in Fig. 4. The
Fig. 2. Photographs of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam (a) composite
surface (b) T-beam (c) cross section.
length of striker bar and incident bar is 200 mm and 800 mm,
respectively. The material used for striker and incident bars is a
maraging steel having a very high yield strength (1830 MPa) and
its Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio are 200 GPa and 0.29,
respectively, in order to withstand a very high impact velocity.
The diameter of both striker bar and incident bar is 14.5 mm. Strain
gages were glued on the incident bar, 400 mm from the edge that is
in contact with the specimen to record stress waves. Fig. 5 shows

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of 3-D orthogonal woven fabric.

 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082 1075

d=14.5mm
T
Indentor
V=2mm/min ε R (t )

Holder Composite

ε I (t )
Fig. 3. Schematic sketch of quasi-static indentation.

the principle of SHPB. When the strike bar impacted the incident X
bar, a stress wave was generated and travels along the incident 200mm 400mm 400mm
bar to the composite coupon. The stress waves were recorded by
the strain gauge glued on the incident bar. The resistance of each
strain gauge is 120 X. The location of strain gauges is shown in
Fig. 5. Fig. 5 also shows the principle of SHPB. Assuming the mod-
ulus, cross section area, and density of bar are E, A and q, the equa- Striker bar Incident bar
tions for the load, displacement, velocity of the strain wave, and Fig. 5. Principle of the modified split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus.
absorption energy of specimen can be expressed by [30]:
PðtÞ ¼ EA½eI ðtÞ þ eR ðtÞ ð1Þ
Z t through the whole thickness of the fabric. The warp and weft yarns
lðtÞ ¼ C 0 ½eI ðtÞ  eR ðtÞdt ð2Þ provide high in-plane stiffness and strength, and the binder yarns
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi0 run through the thickness direction to stabilize the woven struc-
C 0 ¼ E=q ð3Þ ture. In ideal case, the warp and weft yarns, together with Z-yarns
Z t Z t
1 1
W¼ PðtÞlðtÞdt ¼ EAC 0 ½e2I ðtÞ  e2R ðtÞdt ð4Þ
0 2 2 0

where eI(t) and eR(t) are the strain gauge signal of incident and re- Z
flect pulses, respectively.
The incident bar impacts the 3D composite specimen and in- Binder yarn Weft yarn
duces the damage in the composite. The mechanical behavior
and energy absorption of the composite can be calculated from
Eqs. (1)–(4).
The impact velocity of the striker bar was controlled by adjust- Y
ing the gas pressure from 0.4 to 0.6 MPa, which represented three
different velocities of the striker bar at 17.5 m/s, 20 m/s and
22.5 m/s, respectively. At least three composite specimens were
tested to obtain the average load–displacement curve at each im- X
pact velocity.

3. Unit-cell modeling and FEM formulation

Matrix
Warp yarn
The principle of 3-D orthogonal woven fabric is to bind straight
warp yarns and weft yarns together by using Z-yarns which run Fig. 6. Unit-cell model of 3-D orthogonal woven composite.

High pressure nitrogen can

Striker bar Incident bar Specimen Holder

Gas gun Strain gauge Specimen

Fig. 4. Schematic of the modified split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB).

1076 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082

are perpendicular to each other. The unit-cell of 3-D woven com- The proportionality factor dk is given by
posite could be setup as shown in Fig. 6.
3 dep 3 dr 
dk ¼ ¼ ð12Þ
2 r 2 Hp r

3.1. Elasto-plastic stiffness and compliance matrices of the unit-cell of
the 3-D orthogonal woven composite where the rate-dependent plastic modulus Hp is defined as
dr
The method adopted by Thiruppukuzhi and Sun [31] to develop Hp ¼ ð13Þ
the 3-D elasto-plastic constitutive equation was followed to de- dep
duce the elasto-plastic constitutive relations of the 3-D orthogonal The elasto-plastic constitutive equation is defined as
woven composite.
DðoofrÞðoofr ÞT D
For anisotropic fiber composite, Chen and Sun [32] put forward Dep ¼ D   T   ¼ D  Dp ð14Þ
a 3-D plastic potential function conception. It is assumed that there r H þ oofr D oofr
4 2
9
is no plastic deformation in the fiber direction of composites. A 3-D
plastic potential function for orthotropic materials can be inferred through the continuity and yield function.
as The continuity is
 T
2f ðrij Þ ¼ a22 r222 þ a33 r233 þ 2a23 r22 r33 þ 2a44 r223 þ 2a55 r213 of 1 dk p
dr  de ¼ 0 ð15Þ
þ 2a66 r212 ð5Þ or 2 dep

For a transversely isotropic composite which 2–3 plane is the and the yield function is
isotropic plane, the parameters are a22 = 1, a33 = 1, a23 = 1, 2f ðrij Þ  k ¼ 0 ð16Þ
a44 = 2, a55 = a66. The 3-D plastic potential function is simplified
as It is assumed a 3-D plasticity model in the form
2
2f ðrij Þ ¼ ðr22  r33 Þ þ 4r223 þ 2a66 ðr213 þ r212 Þ ð6Þ ep ¼ vðdep Þm ðr
 Þn ð17Þ
where the coefficients x, m, and n are to be determined based on
where the parameter a66 indicates the relative sensitivity of the
experimental data. Using the above expressions, the rate-dependent
material’s plastic response to shear and transverse stress. Higher
plastic modulus Hp can be written as
values of a66 indicate greater sensitivity to shear stress. rij is stress
of composite in principal axis (1–3). dr ot oðr Þ 1
Hp ¼ ¼ p ¼ ð18Þ
From the above expression, it is clear that a single orthotropic dep ot oe nvðdep Þm ðr
 Þn1
parameter (a66) is sufficient to describe the entire 3-D plastic
potential function. From the definition of the effective stress, the effective stress
Based on an additive decomposition principle (valid for only rate is obtained as
small deformation theory), the total strain rate can be expressed 
1 3 3
in terms of the elastic and plastic components of the strain rate dr
¼ ðr  r23 Þdr22 þ ðr22 þ r33 Þdr33 þ 6r23 dr23
r 2 22 2 
as deij ¼ deeij þ depij (e: elasticity; p: plasticity).
The elastic constitutive relation may be expressed in terms of þ 3a66 r13 dr13 þ 3a66 r12 dr12 ð19Þ
elastic compliances Sij as
8 e 9 2 38 9 The final form for the total strain rates is given by
>
>
e_ 11 >
>
S11 S12 S13 0 0 0 >
>
r_ 11 >
> 8 9 2 38 9
> > 6 > > S11 S12 S13 0 0 0 r_ 11 >
>
>
> e_ e22 >
>
> 6 S S22 S23 0 0 0 7 >
7>
> r_ 22 >
>
> >
>
e_ 11 >
> >
> >
>
> > 6 12 > > >
> >
> 6 S12 >
> r_ >
7> >
< e_ e > = 6S >
7<
0 7 r_ 33 =
> >
> e_ 22 >> Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep 7> 22 >
>
13 S23 S33 0 0 >
> > 6 22 23 24 25 26 > >
33
e >
¼6
6 0
7
7 ð7Þ < e_ > = 66 S13 Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep
7> >
7< r_ 33 =
> 2_e
> 23 > > 6 0 0 S44 0 0 7>> r_ 23 >
> 33
¼6 23 33 34 35 36 7 ð20Þ
>
> > 6 7>
> >
> 6 0 7> r_ >
>
> e >
0 5> r_ 13 > >
> 2_e23 >> 6 Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep 7>
> 23 >
> 2_e13 >
> > 4 0 0 0 0 S55 >
> >
> >
> >
>
24 34 44 45 46
7> >
>
: e > ; >
: >
; >
> >
>
6
4 0 Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep 5>
> _ > >
2_e12 0 0 0 0 0 S66 r12
_ >
>
:
2_e 13 >
>
; 25 35 45 55 56 > r13 >
>
: >
;
2_e12 0 Sep
26 Sep
36 Sep
46 Sep
56 Sep
66 r_ 12
The plastic strain rates can be obtained through the plastic po-
tential function and flow rule as The elasto-plastic compliances are non-linear and rate-depen-
dent as the terms in it are functions of both the current state of
of
depij ¼ dk ð8Þ stress and current strain rate.
orij
Define the effective stress as 3.2. Unit-cell homogenization

pffiffiffiffiffi 3 1=2
r ¼ 3f ¼ ððr22  r33 Þ2 þ 4r223 þ 2a66 ðr213 þ r212 ÞÞ ð9Þ Under the assumptions of iso-strain, strain can be transformed
2 from the global to the local coordinate system with the following
relation:
From the equivalence of the rate of plastic work
  elocal
k ¼ ½Teglobal ð21Þ
p p of
dwp ¼ r
 de ¼ r ij deij ¼ rij dk ¼ 2f dk ð10Þ where [T] is a transformation matrix.
orij
Elastically, the global–local stress relations are:
The effective plastic strain rate is obtained as
rlocal
k ¼ C k elocal
k ð22Þ
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
  rk ¼ ½TT rlocal
global
k ð23Þ
1 2 2
p
de ¼ ðdep22  dep33 Þ2 þ ðdep23 Þ2 þ ðdep12 Þ2 þ ðdep13 Þ2 In order to apply the elasto-plastic model, incremental stresses
6 a66 a66
and strains must be used with the elasto-plastic compliance Sep
ð11Þ and stiffness Cep.
 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082 1077

½Sep  ¼ ½S þ Svp   ½C ep  ¼ ½C ep 1 ð24Þ nal woven composite. The subroutine UMAT is for the quasi-static
ep ep 1 FEM calculation while the VUMAT is for dynamic calculation. The
½C  ¼ ½½I þ ½C  ½S  ½C ð25Þ
flow chart of the subroutine is shown in Fig. 7.
In incremental form:
4.2. Finite element model
Delocal
k ¼ ½TDeglobal ð26Þ
Drlocal
k ¼ C ep local
k De k ð27Þ Finite element model was built in ABAQUS/CAE and the mesh
scheme was shown in Fig. 8. The element type of C3D8R in ABAQUS
Then
was chosen for mesh. The definition of the boundary condition for
Drlocal
k ¼ C ep local
k De k ¼ C ep ½TDeglobal ð28Þ the incident bar in ABAQUS is to fix the freedom of displacement
X k global and rotation except the displacement along longitudinal direction
and : Drglobal ¼ V k Drk ð29Þ
of the bar. The boundary condition for the composite T-beam is de-
k
fined as ‘SYMMETRY/ANTISYMMETRY/ENCASTRE’ in ABAQUS.
3.3. Critical damage area (CDA) failure theory and material
degradation 4.3. Parameters of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beams

Composite failure is determined by not only the stresses pres-
ent in the material, but also the area where the stresses exceed
critical values. This critical area is governed by the composite’s
interaction length, which can be as low as 1 mm for tape-based
composites and up to 100 mm for some 3-D interlock weaves
[33]. The local fiber or matrix damage can not induce the damage
of whole composite, and only when the failure area accumulates
limit value, it induces the damage of whole composite. The maxi-
mum stress theory which is used to estimate the damage of com-
posite is limited. Here the critical damaged area (CDA) theory was
used to determine the failure of the 3-D woven composite under
impact.
3.3.1. Critical damaged area
The damage of composite must accord with two conditions. One
condition is stresses present in material beyond the strength of
local fibers. The other is the stress area beyond the CDA.
The critical damaged length (d) [34–36] is defined as
 jjþ1  jþ1
1
Xf ðj þ 1ÞL
d ¼ 4cf
4sy 2cf
Input parameters of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam
are listed in Tables 2–4.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Quasi-static test
Fig. 9a shows the load–displacement curves obtained from both
quasi-static test and FE simulation. Under quasi-static test, with
the increase of contact area between the steel rod and composite
coupon, the load increases to a maximum value and then decreases
sharply. The resin matrix will be deformed and cracked with the
increase of displacement. The integral of Fig. 9a will leads the en-
ergy–displacement curves in Fig. 9b. Fig. 9 depicts the agreement
between experimental and FE simulation results. The difference
between experimental and FEM is attributed to the structure dif-
ference between unit-cell and 3-D orthogonal woven composite.
The unit-cell is an ideal model for characterizing the microstruc-
ture. The non-uniform properties of filament tows, resin and
microstructure will lead the difference between experimental
ð30Þ
and FEM.

where c is the tow radius, Xf is the average fiber tension strength, L

is the tow length, typically assumed 1 unit length, s is the matrix
yield stress, and j is the Weibull parameter, assumed to be 7.6. Stress and strain analysis
If the CDA is square, it is d2. Before the damage of composite, fi- Stress analysis
ber degradation increases with the critical damaged area (in this
Interaction
paper, CDA = 27)
2 Stress and strain calculation
!2 3
DA  DAif
i
E ¼ Ei0 41  5 ð31Þ
CDA
Failure analysis
where Ei is the E11 Young’s Modulus at point i, E0 is the undamaged
modulus, CDA is the critical damaged area, DA is the current dam- Matrix extension and compression
aged area where the longitudinal stress has exceeded the tension Matrix shear Strain increment
strength of the composite XT, and DAif is the value of DA when point Fiber extension and compression
i exceeds its maximum stress. Fiber shear
Critical damage area
4. Finite element (FE) simulation

A commercial available FEM code ABAQUS (version 6.5-1) was

used in FE simulation. A user-defined material UMAT/VUMAT sub- Stress and properties update
Not failed
routine were incorporated with ABAQUS for the calculation. Com- Stiffness degradation
paq FORTRAN Compiler was employed to compile user material Stress update
subroutine UMAT/VUMAT.
Failed
4.1. ABAQUS and UMAT/VUMAT subroutine
End
User material subroutine UMAT/VUMAT is used to define the
mechanical constitutive behavior and damage of the 3-D orthogo- Fig. 7. Flow chart of subroutine UMAT/VUMAT.
1078 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082

Fig. 8. Mesh scheme of the 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam under transverse impact.

Table 2
Stiffness constants and strength of matrix a 60

E (GPa) G (GPa) m XT (MPa) XC (MPa) SS (MPa)

50
8.4 2.8 0.38 74.6 366.8 153.6

40
Load (kN)

Table 3
Stiffness constants of tows
30
E11 E22 E33 G12 G13 G23 m12 m23 m13
(GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa)
20 Experimental
88 80 80 0.352 0.352 0.35 0.2 0.2 0.2
FEM

10

Table 4
Strength of tows 0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
XT (MPa) XC (MPa) YT (MPa) YC (MPa) SS12 (MPa) SS23 (MPa) Displacement (mm)
5150 5150 4150 4150 5150 5150

b 1200
In quasi-static penetration test, failure mechanism includes 1000 experimental
three periods: matrix spallation, fiber pullout and breakage. Failure FEM
photographs of the T-beam under quasi-static loading are shown in
800
Fig. 10, and the FE result is shown in Fig. 11. It could be observed
that the cracks and damages are propagated progressively as the
Energy (J)

deformation increased. However, the delamination was not found 600

at the failure state.

400
5.2. Dynamic test

5.2.1. Load–displacement curve 200

The incident part of a stress waves recorded by gauges glued on
incident bar were used as the input in dynamic FEM calculation.
0
Fig. 12 depicts an incident part of the stress wave. The whole stress 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
waves include input wave and reflected wave. The maximum volt- Displacement (mm)
age increased with the increasing of impact velocity. Typical stress
wave signal in the incident bar of the modified SHPB apparatus un- Fig. 9. Experimental and FE simulation results of 3-D orthogonal woven composite
der transverse impact is shown in Fig. 13. T-beam under quasi-static indentation (a) load–displacement curve (b) energy–
displacement curve.
Figs. 14 and 15 show that the peak load increases with the in-
crease of impact velocity. The peak loads of T-beam and plate com-
posite at three velocities are listed in Table 5. At each impact
velocity, the T-beam structure has a higher peak load than compos- It can be observed a fluctuation of each load–displacement
ite plate. Due to the existence of a 2 cm flange behind the panel, curve, which is also appeared in the result of Ji and Kim [25]. The
the T-beam has a higher resistance to damage impact. It also indi- stress wave in the incident bar will hit the specimen first and in-
cates that the mechanical properties of T-beam structure compos- duce the elastic and plastic deformation of the composite. As the
ites will be obviously improved. stress wave reflected from the free surface of the incident bar
 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082 1079

0.5

0.4

0.3

Voltage (V)
0.2

0.1

0.0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (μs)

Fig. 12. Input stress wave.

0.50

incident wave
0.25
Voltage (v)

0.00
Fig. 10. Failure of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam under quasi-static T-beam
indentation. Plate

-0.25
reflected wave
and the release of the elastic deformation of the composite, there is
a reflective stress wave which goes through the incident bar. The
reflective wave will also reflect from another free surface of the -0.50
0 50 100 150 200 250
incident bar and then become the strike stress wave again. This
process happens for several times until the stress wave disappears. Time (μs)
The multi-reflective stress waves and multi-impact process are Fig. 13. Typical signal of stress wave under transverse impact.
responsible for this fluctuation phenomenon.
From Figs. 14 and 15, we can find there is a good agreement be-
tween experimental and FE results. It is proven that the unit-cell Furthermore, compared with load–displacement curves in qua-
model and the subroutine could be used for T-beam and other si-static (Fig. 9 (1)) and impact loading (Fig. 14), it is shown that
engineering structures design. The difference between experimen- the dynamic results have better correlation with the FEM calcula-
tal and FEM is due to that all filament tows are assumed continu- tion. The reason is that the incident stress wave which obtained
ous and the volume fraction in each unit-cell is uniform in FEM from testing was used as an input in FEM calculation for the trans-
modeling, while actually some fibers have probably been broken verse impact. The difference between the FEM results and the
during fabric weaving and the fiber volume fraction is not the same experimental only depends on the microstructure difference in
at different parts of the composite T-beam. unit-cell and 3-D woven composite. While for quasi-static FEM

Fig. 11. Failure of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam under quasi-static indentation from FEM (cut view).
1080 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082

17.5m/s Experimental 40
60
17.5m/s FEM
35 17.5m/s experimental
20.0m/s Experimental
20.0m/s FEM 17.5m/s FEM
40
22.5m/s Experimental 30 20.0m/s experimental
22.5m/s FEM 20.0m/s FEM
22.5m/s experimental
Load (kN)

25
22.5m/s FEM

Energy (J)
20
20

15
0

10

-20 5

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 0

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Displacement (mm)
Displacement (mm)
Fig. 14. Experimental and FEM results of load–displacement curves of 3-D orthog-
Fig. 16. Experimental and FEM results of energy–displacement curves of 3-D
onal woven composite T-beam at different impact velocities.
orthogonal woven composite T-beams at different impact velocities.

17.5m/s experiment
60
17.5m/s simulation
28
20.0m/s experiment
40 20.0m/s simulation 17.5m/s experimental
22.5m/s experiment 24 17.5m/s FEM
22.5m/s simulation 22.0m/s experimental
20
Load (kN)

22.0m/s FEM
20
22.5m/s experimental
0 22.5m/s FEM
16
Energy (J)

-20
12
-40
8
-60
4
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Displacement (mm)
0
Fig. 15. Experimental and FEM results of load–displacement curves of the 3-D 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
orthogonal woven composite plate at different impact velocities (flange height = 0). Displacement (mm)

Fig. 17. Experimental and FEM results of energy–displacement curves of 3-D

orthogonal woven composite plate at different impact velocities (flange height = 0).
Table 5
Peak loads of T-beam and plate at different velocities

Load (kN) Velocity (m/s)

17.5 20.0 22.5
T-beam 38 47 57 20 T-beam
Plate 33.5 41 52.3 plane

15

calculation, the difference depends on both the microstructure and

Energy (J)

loading differences.
10
5.2.2. Energy absorption
Figs. 16 and 17 display energy absorption of the T-beam under
transverse impact. The energy absorption can be calculated by Eq. 5
(4) or the integral of the load–displacement curves. As the dis-
placement increases, the fiber breakage and matrix crack cause a
larger amount of energy absorption. Similarly to the load–displace-
ment curve, the T-beam structure absorbed much more energy 0
17.5m/s 20.0m/s
than plate at the same velocity as shown in Fig. 18. 22.5m/s

However, we also found that the energy absorptions from FEM Fig. 18. Energy absorptions of T-beam and composite plate from impact test at the
calculation were lower than those from experimental. The degra- displacement of 1.0 mm.
 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082 1081

Fig. 19. Final status of 3-D orthogonal woven composite at the impact velocity of 22.5 m/s by FEM (cut view) (a) T-beam (b) plate.

Fig. 20. Photographs of final status of 3-D orthogonal woven composite under transverse impact (a) T-beam (b) plate.

dation of filament tows’ mechanical properties should be consid-
ered in further calculation in order to improve the agreement be-
tween FE calculation and experimental results.
Compared the results from quasi-static loading with those from
impact loading, it is found that the energy absorption under impact
loading is much higher than that of quasi-static testing. This is
mainly attributed to the severe damage of the composite coupon
(including fiber tows’ breakage, matrix crack and composite defor-
mation) under transverse impact.
face. The reason for the matrix spallation at the rear surface is that
stress waves propagate from the front surface to rear surface and
then reflect from the rear surface. This will deduce the double
stress amplitude which leads the matrix spallation which often oc-
curred in ballistic impact.
Compared with Figs. 19 and 20, the maximum stress around the
impact zone both leads the inner damage of the composite. And
also, there is an agreement between the FE calculation and
experimental.

5.2.3. Failure mode

Figs. 19 and 20 compare the impact damages of the composite
T-beam and the composite plate between FEM and experimental.
Schoeppner and Abrate [37] mentioned that the multi-reflection
of the stress wave during the impact loading will induce the
delamination for laminated composite, while there is no delamina-
tion for the 3-D orthogonal woven composite both for the T-beam
and plate because of the 3-D orthogonal woven structure.
We can find that the matrix crack is the main damage mode at
the front surface both for T-beam and plate. Fiber breakage and
matrix spallation are the main damage mechanism in the rear sur-
6. Conclusions
The quasi-static loading behavior and transverse impact re-
sponses of 3-D orthogonal woven composite T-beam were tested
with MTS 810.23 material testing system and split Hopkinson
pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus. The load–displacement curves
and damage morphologies during impact loading were obtained
to analyze energy absorption and impact damage mechanism of
the composite under different impact velocities. A unit-cell model
based on the microstructure of the 3-D woven composite was
1082 A. Hao et al. / Composites: Part A 39 (2008) 1073–1082
established to determine impact deformation and damage when
the composite impacted by a hemisphere-ended steel rod. Incorpo-
rated with the unit-cell model, an elasto-plastic constitutive equa-
tion of the 3-D woven composite and the critical damage area
(CDA) failure theory developed by Hahn and Tsai have been imple-
mented as a user-defined material law (UMAT/VUMAT) for
commercial available finite element code ABAQUS. The load–dis-
placement curves, impact damages and impact energy absorptions
calculated with ABAQUS are compared with those in experiments.
The good agreements of the comparisons prove the validity of the
unit-cell model and user-defined subroutine. The unit-cell model
can also be extended to the impact crashworthiness simulation
of engineering structures made of the 3-D woven composite.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial supports from the
National Science Foundation of China (50675032), the Shanghai
Shuguang Dawning Plan (06SG36) and the Awards for New Cen-
tury Talented Teachers in Universities of China (NCET-05-0421).
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