| The present work develops a simulation tool to study the effect of damage caused by lowvelocity impact in a set of pipes with different geometrical parameters. The methodology followed includes the Continuum Mechanics and the Ply Discount approaches to damage.;The influence of the mesh size in the analysis has been studied, concluding that the finer the mesh, the earlier that damage is predicted. The influence of different failure criteria has been also checked: the more interactive the criterion, the earlier that damage is predicted.;In the parametric study, the direct relationship between the diameter and damage has been shown. Pipes with bigger diameters are able to deform more and hence, suffer less damage. The limits in which damage happens in the study case have been defined. Regarding the thickness, there is a direct relationship between the number of layers and the stiffness so the higher the number of layers, the higher the stiffness. There is a linear relationship between the results before damage starts. Finally, the analysis of the influence of the length found that longer pipes suffer higher bending stresses and hence, more damage.;A scale study from the literature has been recreated trying to capture the behavior and trends of the results of the size problem in the real cases. Good results have been achieved but further study is needed to improve the understanding of the problem. |
