A material-structure coupled design method to study the impact response of CFRP apron board for railway vehicle

It is of great significance to improve the design efficiency and guide material selection for carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) vehicle structures, thereby, contributing to lightweight high-speed trains. This study proposes a material-structure integrated design approach that bridges the computational relationship between design variables across multiple scales and the impact responses of CFRP vehicle structures. Computational models are constructed at the micro-scale, meso-scale, and macro-scale to capture the multi-scale characteristics of the CFRP structures. At micro-scale, finite element simulations are used to determine the effective properties of fiber bundles using a representative volume element (RVE) model. This information is then transferred to the meso-scale RVE model to calculate the homogenized mechanical properties of the lamina. Finally, a macro-scale model is established to investigate the damage mechanisms and impact resistance of the CFRP apron board against the projectile impact. The influences of design variables, such as fiber type and volume fraction, are analyzed to provide further insights into the design of CFRP apron boards.