Similitude Study of Impacted Composite Laminates under Buckling Loading

In this study, critical buckling load of an impacted composite laminate is predicted, using the structural similitude method. Because of impact loading, damaged regions have formed in the laminate. To establish similarity conditions between impacted laminates for buckling loading, the idea of sequential similitude method is introduced. According to the sequential similitude method, similarity conditions can be established for a structure subjected to different loading situations, provided that each loading event is simulated independently. On the basis of this method, to develop similarity conditions for buckling loading of impacted composite laminates, similarity conditions are developed first for impact loading and then for buckling loading separately. Afterward, the obtained conditions are implemented in the commercial finiteelement software, ABAQUS, to obtain the critical buckling load. Results show that sequential similitude method can be used as a simple and accurate method for prediction of buckling load of impacted laminates.