Material failure criterion in the finite element analysis of aluminium alloy plates under low-velocity impact

A material failure criterion, based on the combination of the revised Bressan-Williams-Hill (BWH) local instability criterion and damage evolution model, is presented to analyse numerically the fracture behaviour of aluminium alloy plates struck by an indenter with various nose shapes. The parameters used in the material failure criterion are easily calibrated for coarsely meshed shell structures. The failure modes of aluminium alloy plates under spherical, ellipsoidal, cylindrical and cuboidal indenters are discussed. The discrepancy between tensile and shear failures is considered in the failure criterion. The failure criterion is implemented into the finite element code LS-DYNA and verified against a series of experimental results. The revised material failure criterion can reasonably predict the onset of fracture of aluminium alloy plates with low mesh dependency.