Abstract
This paper aims at presenting an experimental set-up for testing rubber projectiles impact on laminate composite panels. The test boundary conditions must be mastered to obtain good correlation between experimental and numerical results. A spherical projectile, which is 42 mm in diameter, is launched by a nitrogen gas thrower, at a velocity in the range 100–150 m/s. As the canon has an inner diameter of 100 mm, a geometrical adapter made of polymeric foam is used. The target is a square panel (500 r 500 mm). The experimental set-up allows changes in the impact angle between 20 and 90x with a step of 5x. The projectile velocity is measured by a laser and diode system. The impact zone is filmed by two high speed video cameras. The experimental set-up is instrumented with twelve strain gage stations. Furthermore, the target is borne by a supporting frame of square section. The link between the target and the supporting frame can be represented by a simple contact. In addition, it doesn’t block the rebound of the projectile for all impact angles. Finally, the supporting frame doesn’t oppose rotation movements. The target and its supporting frame are fixed on a bearing structure. It is constituted by two half squares and of two lateral elliptical support. In this paper we will detail the experimental set-up and give some results obtained by impacting composite panels with rubber spherical projectiles.