Laser-Welded Corrugated-Core Sandwich Composition—Numerical Modelling Strategy for Structural Analysis

Abstract

Laser-welding technology has recently enabled the production of corrugated-core steel sandwich panels (CCSSPs) as an innovative large-scale, lightweight structural solution in maritime and infrastructure applications. Detailed numerical analyses, specifically weld-region stress prediction in the presence of transverse patch loading and supports, are computationally challenging and time-consuming for their optimal design. This paper introduces an efficient, simplified combined sub-modelling approach for accurately predicting the detailed structural response of welded corrugated-core steel panels. The approach rests on the homogenisation of the three-dimensional (3D) panel into a two-dimensional equivalent orthotropic single layer (EOSL), where the effect of transverse compressive loads and local support conditions are captured separately via different 2D and 3D sub-modelling techniques, together with a model introduced for calculation of the weld region’s equivalent spring stiffnesses. A laser-welded corrugated-core steel sandwich panel (CCSSP), as a future generation of the steel bridge deck, was examined using different modelling approaches. It was shown that the proposed combined sub-modelling approach can accurately predict stresses and displacements in all the constituent members of the cross-section, including the welds, in a reasonable calculation time when compared with a 3D reference model, unlike the conventional homogenisation approaches.

Keywords

• corrugated-core steel sandwich panel (CCSSPs)
• compressive load effect
• combined sub-modelling approach
• equivalent orthotropic single layer (EOSL)
• weld-region-equivalent spring stiffness