Towards Characterizing Continuum Damage in Glass Fibre-Reinforced Composite

In the present work, glass fibre-reinforced composite (GFRC) material is proposed for rear under-run protection device (RUPD) in straight trucks or trailers to explore its feasibility towards enhancing the vehicle’s crashworthiness and reducing the weight of the vehicle. To simulate the response of the composite material, a continuum damage mechanics based material model for laminated composite fabric (*MAT_LAMINATED_COMPOSITE_FABRIC or *Mat 58, available within LS-DYNA) is selected. As the material is orthotropic, its input property values for *Mat 58 are obtained from standard material characterization tests performed on GFRC specimens following the recommendations of ASTM D3039 and D3518, for tensile and in-plane shear tests respectively. Once the mechanical properties are determined, a simple finite element model is developed to simulate the material characterization tests, namely tensile and in-plane shear tests. A good match is observed between the test and simulated data thus verifying the material model *Mat 58. Later, a RUPD component made of GFRC is fabricated and tested as per the guidelines laid down in IS:14812. The simulation results closely corroborate with test results clearly demonstrating and justifying the replacement of structural steel used for RUPD with glass fibre-reinforced composite.