Experimental and computational studies on honeycomb sandwich structures under static and fatigue bending load

Abstract

Sandwich structures with glass fiber face sheets and aluminum honeycomb core are investigated computationally and experimentally. A three point bending load arrangement is conducted to examine the static and fatigue performance of honeycomb sandwich panel. Under static loading, the load and displacement response is indicated in five phases. The decrease in fatigue life with load level was observed in approximately linear manner. The visual and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) analysis were carried out to analyze the failure modes. For static and high amplitude fatigue load, the failure initiates due to face yielding, while for low fatigue load failure initiates as a result of delamination at core and skin interface. However, in all cases principle failure mode is indentation. The honeycomb sandwich structure was also modeled with commercially available finite element packages ANSYS and the fatigue analyses were carried out to determine the life of specimens under load-displacement response. The experimental results were in good agreement with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results in both static and fatigue loads, and fracture modes prediction. © 2018 The Authors