Damage Characteristics in CFRP due to Soft Body Impact

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are important materials in the aerospace field. An aircraft may suffer from foreign object damage (FOD) during operation. The most critical and frequent FOD events are bird strikes. To increase the usage of CFRP as a structural material in airplanes, it is necessary to be satisfied with the data on its impact resistance and to clarify the damage mechanism of CFRP in case of bird strike. In this study, a soft body sphere was used, as a model for a bird. The sphere struck three types of CFRP plates fixed at cantilevered, and the effects of the impact energy on the damage behavior of the plates were investigated. The relationship of strain and stress distribution and the damage process of CFRP were investigated through finite element analysis of the impact of the sphere.