Low-Velocity Impact and Residual Compression Performance of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite Stiffened Plates

In this work, compression tests after impact and numerical simulation are combined to study bearing capacity and failure mode of carbon fiber reinforced composite grid plates with reinforcing stiffeners after being impacted at different positions. The mechanism of impact damage formation of composite stiffened plates and the damage propagation and extension process under compressive load are analysed. The results show that when there is no stiffener below the impact position, the main impact failure modes are fibre fracture and internal delamination of the skin, which have little effect on the bearing capacity of the structure; when the impact position is above the stiffener, the primary failure mode is the stiffener’s debonding from the skin, which will lower the remaining bearing capacity of the structure severely.