Numerical-Experimental Study of Energy Absorption of Automobile Light Weight Composites Subjected to Impact

Automobile light weight structural composites are subjected to the various loadings in their service life. Honeycombs are increasingly used as core structures in automobile light weight structures as energy absorbers. In this paper the energy absorption of honeycomb panels under impact of cylindrical projectile is numerically and experimentally studied. The effect of the core materials and cross-ply or semiisotropic lamination of face sheets are checked numerically. Results shown that the Aluminum cores vs. Nomex cores and semi-isotropic lamination of face sheets have much better energy absorption in impact loading.