scholarly journals Core failure in sandwich structures subjected to water slamming loads

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1751-1772
Author(s):  
MA Battley ◽  
TD Allen

Sandwich composite materials are widely used within the marine industry, particularly as hull panels. Water impact loads, known as slamming, can be very significant for these structures, particularly for high-speed craft. These loadings generate local regions of high transverse shear forces near panel boundaries, which can result in transverse shear failures of core materials. The transient nature of slamming loads can cause stress rates that are high enough to affect the strength of the core material, particularly for polymeric foams. Despite the significant body of work on the constitutive behaviour and failure mechanics of sandwich core materials, there is a lack of understanding of how core materials fail in transverse shear during slamming events. There is also only very limited knowledge of how the core shear strengths measured using standardised, often quasi-static material coupon testing relate to their behaviour in a panel-slamming situation. This paper contributes in two novel areas; controlled experimental characterisation of the failure mechanics of sandwich panels subjected to water slamming to understand and quantify the strength of different polymeric core materials, comparison of the failure modes and transverse shear strength of slam-loaded sandwich panels to predictions from material coupon properties. Core types include low, medium and high elongation polymeric foams. The results demonstrate that the more ductile foams perform better as panel structures under slamming relative to their quasi-static properties compared with the more brittle cores. Prediction of the strength of a panel is shown to be highly dependent on the load distribution and whether the static or dynamic core strength is considered. The results support empirical experience that ductile foams perform well under slamming loads, and that high-elongation materials can perform better in slamming situations than predicted by their quasi-static strengths.

2009 ◽  
Vol 1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Mezeix ◽  
Christophe Bouvet ◽  
Serge Crézé ◽  
Dominique Poquillon

AbstractMany different sandwich panels are used for aeronautical applications. Open and closed cell structured foam, balsa wood or honeycomb are often used as core materials. When the core material contains closed cells, water accumulation into the cell has to be taken into account. This phenomenon occurs when in service conditions lead to operate in humidity atmosphere. Then, water vapor from air naturally condenses on cold surfaces when the sandwich panel temperature decreases. This water accumulation might increase significantly the weight of the core material. Core with a ventilated structure helps to prevent this phenomenon. Periodic cellular metal (PCM) has been motivated by potential multifunctional applications that exploit their open architecture as well as their apparent superior strength and stiffness: pyramidal, lattice, Kagome truss or woven. One of the drawbacks of these materials is the expensive cost of the manufacturing. Recently, a novel type of sandwich has been developed with bonded metallic fibers as core material. This material presents attractive combination of properties like high specific stiffness, good damping capacity and energy absorption. Metal fibers bonded with a polymeric adhesive or fabricated in a mat-like form consolidated by solid state sintering. Entangled cross-linked carbon fibers have been also studied for using as core material by Laurent Mezeix. In the present study, ventilated core materials are elaborated from networks fibers. The simplicity of elaboration is one of the main advantages of this material. Multifunctional properties are given by mixing different sorts of fibers, by example adding fibers with good electrical conduction to give electrical conductivity properties. In this study network fibers as core material are elaborated using carbon fibers, glass fibers and stainless steel fibers. In aeronautical skins of sandwich panels used are often carbon/epoxy prepreg, so epoxy resin was used to cross-link fibers. The core thickness was chosen at 30 mm and fibers length was chosen at 40 mm. Entanglement, separation of filaments and cross-linking are obtained in a specific blower room. Fibers are introduced in the blower room, compressed air is applied and in same time epoxy resin is sprayed. Indeed one of the sandwich core material properties required is low density, so yarns size need to be decreased by separating filaments. Network fibers are introduced in a specific mould and then are compressed. The density obtained before epoxy spaying is 150 kg/m3. Finally samples are polymerized at 80°C for 2 hours in a furnace under laboratory air. Compressive behavior is study to determinate the influence of fibers natures and the effect of cross-linking. Reproducibility is also checked.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Labeas ◽  
Evangelos Ptochos

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present, the global behaviour of sandwich structures comprising cellular cores is predicted by finite element (FE) analysis. Two modelling approaches are investigated, providing different levels of accuracy; in both approaches, the sandwich structure is idealised as a layered stack with the skin modelled using shell elements; while the core is either modelled with fine detail using beam micro-elements representing the cell struts, or is modelled by three-dimensional solid elements after an appropriate core homogenisation. Design/methodology/approach – The applied homogenisation methodology, as well as the all important modelling issues are presented in detail. Experimental tests performed using a mass-drop testing machine are used for the successful validation of the simulation models. Findings – It was concluded that the core microscale models having detailed FE modelling of the core unit cells geometry with fine scale beam elements are suitable for the analysis of the core failure modes and the prediction of the basic core stiffness and strength properties. It was demonstrated that the homogenised core model provides significant advantages with respect to computing time and cost, although they require additional calculations in order to define the homogenised stress-strain curves. Research limitations/implications – Special microscale material tests are required for the determination of appropriate materials parameters of the core models, as steel selective laser melting (SLM) microstrut properties differ from the constitutive steel material ones, due to the core manufacturing SLM technique. Stress interactions were not taken into account in the homogenisation, as the applied core material model supports the introduction of independent stress-strain curves; however, the predicted load deflection results appeared to be very close to those obtained from the detailed core micromodels. Originality/value – The paper is original. The dynamic behaviour of conventional sandwich structures comprising conventional honeycomb type cores has been extensively studied, using simple mass-spring models, energy based models, as well as FE models. However, the response of sandwich panels with innovative SLM cellular cores has been limited. In the present paper, novel modelling approaches for the simulation of the structural response of sandwich panels having innovative open lattice cellular cores produced by SLM are investigated.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 7295
Author(s):  
Hom Nath Dhakal ◽  
Chulin Jiang ◽  
Moumita Sit ◽  
Zhongyi Zhang ◽  
Moussa Khalfallah ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to evaluate the moisture absorption behaviour and its influence on the mechanical properties of newly developed sandwich biocomposites with flax fibre-reinforced poly-lactic acid (PLA) face sheets and soft cork as the core material. Three different types of sandwich biocomposite laminates comprised of different layup configurations, namely, non-woven flax/PLA (Sample A), non-woven flax/PLA and cork as core (Sample B) and non-woven flax/paper backing/PLA, cork as core (Sample C), were fabricated. In order to evaluate the influence of moisture ingress on the mechanical properties, the biocomposites were immersed in seawater for a period of 1200 h. The biocomposites (both dry and water immersed) were then subjected to tensile, flexural and low-velocity falling weight impact tests. It was observed from the experimental results that the moisture uptake significantly influenced the mechanical properties of the biocomposites. The presence of the cork and paper in sample C made it more susceptible to water absorption, reaching a value of 34.33%. The presence of cork in the core also has a considerable effect on the mechanical, as well as energy dissipation, behaviours. The results of sample A exhibited improved mechanical performance in both dry and wet conditions compared to samples B and C. Sample A exhibits 32.6% more tensile strength and 81.4% more flexural strength in dry conditions than that in sample C. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray micro-CT images revealed that the failure modes observed are a combination of matrix cracking, core crushing and face core debonding. The results from this study suggest that flax/PLA sandwich biocomposites can be used in various lightweight applications with improved environmental benefits.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 1612-1634 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Jelovica ◽  
J Romanoff

Modeling a periodic structure as a homogeneous continuum allows for an effective structural analysis. This approach represents a sandwich panel as a two-dimensional plate of equivalent stiffness. Known as the equivalent single-layer, the method is used here to analyze bifurcation buckling of three types of sandwich panels with unidirectional stiffeners in the core: truss-core, web-core and corrugated-core panels made of an isotropic material. The transverse shear stiffnesses of these panels can differ by several orders of magnitude, which cause incorrect buckling analysis when using the equivalent single-layer model with the first-order shear deformation theory. Analytical solution of the problem predicts critical buckling loads that feature infinite number of half-waves in the direction perpendicular to the stiffeners. Finite element model also predicts buckling modes that have non-physical, saw-tooth shape with infinite curvature at nodes. However, such unrealistic behavior is not observed when using detailed three-dimensional finite element models. The error in the prediction of the critical buckling load is up to 85% for the cases considered here. The correction of the equivalent single-layer model is proposed by modeling the thick-faces effect to ensure finite curvature. This is performed in the finite element setting by introducing an additional plate with tied deflections to the equivalent single-layer plate. The extra plate is represented with bending and transverse shear stiffness of the face plates. As a result, global buckling is predicted accurately. Guidelines are proposed to identify the sandwich panels where ordinary model is incorrect. Truss-core and web-core sandwich panels need the correction. Corrugated-core panels without a gap between plates in the core have smaller shear orthotropy and do not need the correction. Modeling the thick-faces effect ensures correct results for all cases considered in this study, and thus one should resort to this approach in case of uncertainty whether the ordinary equivalent single-layer model is valid.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-660
Author(s):  
Aslan Abbasloo ◽  
Mohamad Reza Maheri

Abstract Sandwich panels made of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) skins and a honeycomb core can be effectively damped through the choice of the skin and especially of the core materials. Because the core is often highly damped, a lateral deflection that causes more shearing of the core than bending of the skin increases sandwich damping. Aside from the skin and the core material properties, the shearing/bending ratio depends on a number of other, often interacting, factors, including the sandwich planar as well as transverse dimensions, the particular modal pattern in which the panel vibrates and its relationship to the type of skin layup, as well as the panel end conditions. In the present work, using a simple, first-order shear deformation theory, damping results have been produced for simple modes of vibration of a sandwich panel comprising composite skins and a damped honeycomb core, demonstrating the mechanisms by which the above factors affect the FRP skin/honeycomb core sandwich damping.


Author(s):  
Cihan Kaboglu

Sandwich structures are popular in applications in which the weight of the component affects the efficiency, especially in the aviation and aerospace industries. This study aims to understand the impact behaviour of sandwich structures with different core materials. Sandwich structures are manufactured with glass fibre reinforced polymer skins and balsa wood, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) core through resin infusion under flexible tools. Three different core materials were tested and compared using the damaged area of the back face of the sample. The effect of the core materials on the mechanical behaviour of the structures is crucial. The results showed that the microstructure of the core materials plays an important role, because althoughthe density of balsa wood is greater than the density of PET and PVC, the structures having PVC and PET as core materials undergo less damage than those having balsa wood as a core material. Keywords: Sandwich composite, impact behaviour, core materials.


2011 ◽  
Vol 306-307 ◽  
pp. 844-847
Author(s):  
Quan Zhou Li ◽  
Xiao Qing Wu

A novel water soluble core material composed of alumina, quartz sand, kaolin, gypsum powder and the solution of binders was prepared. The influence of different mass concentration of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) binder solution and sodium silicate compounded (SS) binders solution on water soluble performance and compressive strength of the core materials was investigated, respectively. The results show that the compressive strength and solubility rate of the core materials, with the concentration of 30% of SS binders solution, are 1.023MPa and 0.24g/s respectively, which is satisfied for the requirements of Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process completely.


2015 ◽  
Vol 825-826 ◽  
pp. 433-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Stein ◽  
David Übelacker ◽  
Dirk Holke ◽  
Peter Groche

Continually increasing exhaust emission standards for automobiles and an increasing environmental awareness push design engineers to develop new constructive and material concepts. So-called sandwich panels, consisting of stiff facings and light-weight cores, offer the possibility to combine properties of different materials synergistically. When processing large quantities, as is the case in the automotive industry commonly used manufacturing processes for cutting sandwich panels, like sawing or milling, are not applicable. A common manufacturing process to cut metal sheets in high quantities is shear cutting. However, pre-trials of shear cutting of sandwich panels have shown that it is not possible to achieve flawless cutting surfaces with current process layouts. Characteristic types of failure like high bending of the facings, delamination effects, burr formation and an undefined cracking of the core material were ascertained. Thus, in this study, the influence of cutting parameters, such as the clearance and the punch diameter, on these types of failure is examined. Five different clearances between 0.025 mm and 0.4 mm with two punch diameters, 8 mm and 32 mm, were investigated. In order to compare the influence of different materials, three commercially available sandwich panels were studied. The chosen sandwich panels differ both in the face sheet thickness and the core material. Finally, the shear cutting force is measured to identify a possible correlation between the cutting force and the face bending. As a result, optimal clearances to minimize the face bending are derived. Additionally, the influence of the core stiffness on the cutting force is determined.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Nakisa ◽  
Fatemeh Behrouzi ◽  
Ahmad Mobasher Amini

This research paper focuses on the prediction of different failure modes to improve the sandwich composite panel with honeycomb core for application in marine structures. Marine, automotive and aerospace industries are continually trying to optimize material performance in terms of strength and weight. Success has been achieved through the growth of high performance materials, including fibrous composites such as ceramics, new alloys, and carbon fiber composites and through the use of structural concepts such as sandwich composite panel construction. Sandwich composite panel construction with honeycomb core consists of three components: two facing sheets, the core that fill the space between the facing sheet and the core-to-facing bonding adhesives. The facing sheets of a sandwich panel can be compared to the flanges of an I-beam element, as they carry the bending stresses to which the beam is subjected. With one facing sheet in compression, the other is in tension. Similarly the honeycomb core corresponds to the web of the I-beam that resists the shear loads and vertical compressive load to the face sheet. This paper presents a model for prediction of different failure mode of face sheet and core material. The obtained results of this model were compared with experimental results and presents that it is a simple and good model.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2654-2679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rupp ◽  
Peter Elsner ◽  
Kay A Weidenmann

This work focuses on failure mode maps of sandwich panels exposed to bending load, which were produced using a polyurethane spraying process. This process allows for an automated production of sandwich panels omitting a separate bonding step of the face sheets to the core. The investigated sandwich panels consisted of carbon fiber reinforced face sheets in various configurations, and four different core structures of aluminum foam or Nomex honeycomb. After production, measurements of the pores inside the core foam structures, the fiber package thickness inside the face sheets, and the density homogeneity of the core structure were made using X-ray computed tomography. The failure mode maps were based on the individual mechanical properties of the face sheets and the core, determined by mechanical testing. The critical forces determining the failure modes were partially modified to fit the application on foam core structures and face sheets with a porous matrix. The verification of the failure modes was performed with four-point bending tests. Since all tested configurations of sandwich specimens were produced using the same process route, the applied models for the creation of the failure mode maps could be verified for numerous parameter combinations. Except for two parameters with inconstant properties, the failure modes determined by the failure mode maps matched the observed failure modes determined by the bending tests.


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