Experimental and numerical investigation on the low-velocity high-energy impact response of thick steel-viscoelastic composite metal laminate with different viscoelastic layer configurations and impact energies

This study aims to investigate the effects of viscoelastic layer configurations and impact energy on the low-velocity, high-energy impact response of thick steel-viscoelastic Composite Metal Laminate (TSV-CML). A combined approach of low-velocity drop-weight impact testing and LS-DYNA finite element simulation was employed to analyze the force-time, energy-time, force-displacement, displacement-time, and velocity-time responses of a five-layer TSV-CML configuration, denoted as SNCNS (where “S” represents steel layer, “N” represents natural viscoelastic layers, and “C” denotes carbon fiber-reinforced polymer layers), under an impact energy of 500 J. The simulation results demonstrated high consistency with experimental data in terms of key parameters and damage morphology, validating the reliability of the numerical model. Based on this, a systematic comparison was conducted on different viscoelastic layer arrangements (impact side, non-impact side, and symmetrical distribution) and their influence on impact response. The results indicate that the SNCNS configuration, with symmetrically arranged viscoelastic layers on both sides of the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) layer, exhibits the highest energy absorption efficiency, lowest damage level, and superior impact resistance and toughness under identical impact energy. Furthermore, it was observed that the impact response of TSV-CML structures exhibits a monotonic trend with increasing impact energy. These findings provide theoretical guidance for the optimized design of TSV-CML and offer important insights for understanding and predicting their mechanical behavior under varying energy levels.