Design of cylindrical honeycomb cores – Geometric consideration –

Abstract

Lightweight and rigid honeycomb cores have a feature as deployable structures, i.e., their shapes can be changed as desired from the viewpoint of manufacturing processes. This paper presents a geometrical design method for cylindrical honeycomb cores that satisfy high rigidity and deployability, considering core orientation, core distortion, and applicable manufacturing processes. The proposed method is based on a conventional construction process of flat honeycomb cores and applied to a cylinder segmented with longitudinal and latitudinal lines. Cylindrical honeycomb cores with the radial core direction are possibly suitable for the application of radial forces; however, core walls are distorted and the shape cannot be maintained uniformly. To solve this problem, the core direction is revised based on the correction angle. As a result, it is observed that the obtained cores are not distorted and core directions can be designed approximately along radial directions. Geometrical restrictions and feasible design ranges are discussed in this paper. It is possible to fabricate the cores using the conventional expansion process. This implies that they are promising as deployable structures that can be constructed or deconstructed at workplaces.

Keywords

• structural design
• composite material
• core structures
• deployable structures
• origami