Finite Element Analysis of Conductive Laminate Composite Plates Subjected to a Low Velocity Impact

Advanced composites, such as Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), are increasing in popularity throughout many industries like aerospace and automotive. From a growing usage of laminated composites stems the need to further understand and develop methods to study the structural behavior of these materials. In this work, a Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation has been created to study the mechanical response of a composite plate subjected to electro-magneto-mechanical loading. A mechanically loaded composite plate simulation is analyzed using the commercially available FEM software, COMSOL Multiphysics, with results verified in MATLAB. The numerical results were then compared with the FEM mechanical response of a composite plate subjected to a coupled electro-magneto-mechanical loading. This study showed that the application of an electromagnetic field can mitigate the stresses caused by the transverse mechanical load. The FEM simulation model developed in this research is proved to be an efficient model to predict the response of anisotropic materials in fully coupled fields and emphasizes the importance of the numerical study of complicated coupled problems in a continuously expanding advanced composites research field.