impact analysis on curved sandwich beam using numerical simulation

Considering the greater resistance of curved beams compared to straight beams, the purpose of this research is to investigate the response of curved beams against low-velocity impact using numerical methods. using abaqus finite element software, a curved beam with three layers in the form of a sandwich beam under the impact of a rigid body with a spherical tip is simulated. hexagonal elements are considered for the curved beam, which has more numbers as they approach the target impact site. a simply supported boundary condition is considered for both sides of the beam. to verify the accuracy of the simulation results in this article, the impact response is compared with what is theoretically obtained in another research. the results show that with the increment in the curved beam radius, assuming that its angle is constant, the second peak related to the impact load and the absolute value of the impactor’s residual velocity is decreased, but the maximum displacement of the impactor is incremented. also, the maximum von mises stress value is decreased with the increment in curved beam radius, but the range of maximum von mises stress has become wider. it is seen that for a constant curved beam radius, the impactor’s final velocity decreases, but no clear trend is observed for the impact load changes and the impactor’s displacement.