• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.215-226
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• 2022

Significant efforts have been devoted to developing high-performance composite materials by emulating the structure of biological creatures with superior mechanical characteristics. Nacre has been one of the most sought-after natural structures due to its exceptional fracture toughness compared with the constituent materials. However, the effect of manipulating the nacre-like geometry on the impact performance has not been fully investigated thus far. In this study, composites of randomly manipulated nacreous geometry are numerically developed and the impact performance is analyzed. We develop an algorithm by which the planar area of platelets in the nacre-like design is randomly resized. Thereafter, the numerical models of nonuniform nacre-patterned multi-layer structures are developed and the drop-weight impact simulation is performed. The impact behaviors of the model are evaluated by using the ratio of absorbed energy, the von Mises stress distribution, and the impact force-time curve. Therefore, the effect of the geometric irregularity on the nacre-patterned design is elucidated. This insight can be efficiently utilized in establishing the optimum design of the nacre-patterned structure.