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This study examines various computational techniques to analyze dynamic response and failure of sandwich composite materials subject to fluid-structure interaction characterized by an acoustic field or the propagation of velocity potential according to the wave equation. A displacement-only plate finite element is developed and implemented using Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methodology; its accuracy compares favorably to both theory and Continuous Galerkin methods. Several approaches to analyzing debonding failure between skin and core layers of sandwich com-posite structures are demonstrated and evaluated; partial disconnection between neighboring elements at a debonding site shows good qualitative agreement with known physical phenomena. A hybrid Finite Element-Cellular Automata (FE+CA) approach to modeling an acoustic field with non-reflecting boundary conditions is presented, validated nu-merically, and favorably compared with experimental results. The FE+CA fluid model is then combined with the DG structural model to simulate fluid-structure interaction; this combined model compared favorably with experimental results for the strain field of laminated plates subject to low-velocity impact. Each technique addressed shows promise for flexible and accurate modeling of failure initiation and propagation in sandwich and laminate composites subject to fluid-structure interaction with moderate computational costs.

This study examines various computational techniques to analyze dynamic response and failure of sandwich composite materials subject to fluid-structure interaction characterized by an acoustic field or the propagation of velocity potential according to the wave equation. A displacement-only plate finite element is developed and implemented using Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methodology; its accuracy compares favorably to both theory and Continuous Galerkin methods. Several approaches to analyzing debonding failure between skin and core layers of sandwich composite structures are demonstrated and evaluated; partial disconnection between neighboring elements at a debonding site shows good qualitative agreement with known physical phenomena. A hybrid Finite Element-Cellular Automata (FE+CA) approach to modeling an acoustic field with non-reflecting boundary conditions is presented, validated numerically, and favorably compared with experimental results. The FE+CA fluid model is then combined with the DG structural model to simulate fluid-structure interaction; this combined model compared favorably with experimental results for the strain field of laminated plates subject to low-velocity impact. Each technique addressed shows promise for flexible and accurate modeling of failure initiation and propagation in sandwich and laminate composites subject to fluid-structure interaction with moderate computational costs.