Deflection behavior of sandwich panel with corrugated core of trapezoidal cross section

Abstract

This paper reports the deflection behavior of the sandwich panel with corrugated core of trapezoidal cross section. The size of the top and bottom plates were 200 mm square, and the height of the sandwich panel was fixed at 13.6 mm. The models for finite element method were created by taking into account the geometrical limitations of the corrugated core due to the space between both plates and the manufacturing condition. The four sides of the sandwich panel were rigidly fixed, and a uniformly distributed load was applied to the surface of the top plate. The deflection always became maximum at the center of the panel. The analysis was performed by changing the inclination angle of the trapezoidal patterns of the core. It was found that there is an inclination angle of the patterns at which the deflection of the sandwich panel becomes minimal. The deflection of the corrugated core itself increased with decrease in the inclination angle of the trapezoidal patterns. On the other hand, the shear stress developed in the plates and the core increased with decrease in the inclination angle, which had the effect of reducing the deflection of the sandwich panel. It was found that these synergistic effects cause the minimal inclination angle occur. Moreover, the anisotropy of deflection of the sandwich panel, which is the difference in the deflection depending on the selected two sides of the panel when the relative two sides are fixed and loaded, was investigated. It was found that the anisotropy of deflection also became smaller at the inclination angle of the trapezoidal patterns at which the deflection of the panel became minimal.

Keywords

• sandwich panel
• corrugated core
• trapezoidal patterns
• aluminu alloy
• deflection behavior
• fem
• shear stress