Abstract: Impact tests of composite cylindrical shells are performed and a finite element analysis is applied to reveal the damage mechanism of composite cylindrical shells with a circular hole subjected to axial compressive and transverse transient dynamic loads. The method of dynamic response analysis is established. First, the LS-DYNA FEM package is used to simulate the mechanical behaviors of composite cylindrical shells under complex impact loads. Subsequently, damage propagation is predicted by the implementation of the Chang-Chang criterion, which reduces the stiffness components of the corresponding failed elements. A good agreement is achieved between the numerical analysis and experimental results. Both the dynamic and static damage analysis indicates that, along the axial edge of the hole, the damage of the 90? layers, including fiber breakage and matrix cracking, is caused mainly by the circumferential tensile stress induced by transverse impact. However, the tensile stress only causes matrix cracking in the 0? layers. The first-element damage analysis shows that the structure bearing capacity of a composite cylindrical shell may be enhanced by 56% if the contents of the circumferential layers are increased from 20% to 50%.

Key words: composite materials, cylindrical shell, transverse load, dynamic response, finite element analysis