Thermomechanical bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates with both functionally graded face sheets and functionally graded cores

The bending response of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates subjected to thermomechanical loads is investigated using a four-variable refined plate theory. A new type of FGM sandwich plate, namely, both FGM face sheets and an FGM hard core, is considered. Containing only four unknown functions, the governing equations are deduced based on the principle of virtual work and then these equations are solved via the Navier approach. Analytical solutions are obtained to predict the deflections and stresses of simply supported FGM sandwich plates. Benchmark comparisons of the solutions obtained for a degradation model (functionally graded face sheets and homogeneous cores) with ones computed by several other theories are conducted to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the present approach. The influences of volume fraction distribution, geometrical parameters, and thermal load on dimensionless deflections and normal and shear stresses of the FGM sandwich plates are studied.     

Low velocity impact analysis of sandwich plates with functionally graded face sheets

This article deals with the study of low velocity impact response on sandwich plates with functionally graded face sheets. High-order sandwich plate theory is improved by considering the in-plane stresses of the core that usually are ignored in the analysis of sandwich structures. A new approach is used to reduce the equations of motion from 27 equations to 15 equations and then solving them for both unsymmetric and symmetric sandwich plates. The model is also checked by finite element simulation and by comparing with other references for validation. A parametric study is done for various geometrical and mechanical properties.     

Blast impact response of aluminum foam sandwich composites

Military and civilian structures can be exposed to intentional or accidental blasts. Aluminum foam sandwich structures are being considered for energy absorption applications in blast resistant cargo containers, ordnance boxes, transformer box pads, etc. This study examines the modeling of aluminum foam sandwich composites subjected to blast loads using LS-DYNA software. The sandwich composite was designed using laminated face sheets (S2 glass/epoxy and aluminum foam core. The aluminum foam core was modeled using an anisotropic material model. The laminated face sheets were modeled using material models that implement the Tsai-Wu and Hashin failure theories. Ablast load was applied using the CONWEP blast equations (*LOAD_BLAST) in LS-DYNA. This paper discusses the blast response of constituent S2-glass/epoxy face sheets, the closed cell aluminum foam core as well as the sandwich composite plate.     

Active constrained layer damping of geometrically nonlinear vibrations of smart laminated composite sandwich plates using 1–3 piezoelectric composites

This paper deals with the analysis of active constrained layer damping (ACLD) of geometrically nonlinear vibrations of sandwich plate with orthotropic laminated composite faces separated by a flexible core. The constraining layer of the ACLD treatment is composed of the vertically/obliquely reinforced 1?C3 piezoelectric composites. The Golla?CHughes?CMcTavish method has been implemented to model the constrained viscoelastic layer of the ACLD treatment in time domain. The first-order shear deformation theory and the Von Kármán type nonlinear strain displacement relations are used for analyzing this coupled electro-elastic problem. A three dimensional finite element model of smart laminated composite sandwich plate integrated with ACLD patches has been developed to investigate the performance of these patches for controlling the geometrically nonlinear vibrations of the plates. The numerical results indicate that the ACLD patches significantly improve the damping characteristics of the sandwich plates with laminated cross-ply and angle-ply facings for suppressing their geometrically nonlinear vibrations. Particular emphasis has been placed on investigating the effect of the variation of piezoelectric fiber orientation angle on the performance of the ACLD treatment.     

含界面脱粘及表板基体开裂损伤的复合材料夹层板非线性稳定性的研究

本文作者基于"zig-zag"模型和Mindlin一阶剪切变形板理论,推导了复合材料夹层板屈曲分析的有限元列式,在该列式中考虑了面板的横向剪切变形和芯体的面内刚度对夹层板力学性能的影响。针对具有面板和芯体间界面脱粘和纤维增强树脂基体微裂纹损伤的夹层板损伤特征,分别提出了分层模型和多标量损伤模型,并推导了多标量形式的损伤本构关系。采用修正的 Newton-Raphson迭代格式求解含损复合材料夹层板的非线性稳定性性状。通过算例研究了脱粘面积、基体的损伤演化、表板的铺设方式及载荷形式对复合材料夹层板屈曲性态的影响。本文作者给出的有限元模型和结论,对复合材料夹层板结构设计的损伤容限的制定具有一定的参考价值。     

Nonlinear analysis of sandwich plates with FGM face sheets resting on elastic foundations

Nonlinear vibration, nonlinear bending and postbuckling analyses are presented for a sandwich plate with FGM face sheets resting on an elastic foundation in thermal environments. The material properties of FGM face sheets are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The governing equation of the plate that includes plate-foundation interaction is solved by a two-step perturbation technique. The thermal effects are also included and the material properties of both FGM face sheets and homogeneous core layer are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The numerical results reveal that the foundation stiffness and temperature rise have a significant effect on the natural frequency, buckling load, postbuckling and nonlinear bending behaviors of sandwich plates. The results also reveal that the core-to-face sheet thickness ratio and the volume fraction distribution of FGM face sheets have a significant effect on the natural frequency, buckling load and postbuckling behavior of the sandwich plate, whereas this effect is less pronounced for the nonlinear bending, and is marginal for the nonlinear to linear frequency ratios of the same sandwich plate.     

Behaviour of sandwich panels subject to intense air blasts – Part 2: Numerical simulation

Finite element simulation is employed to analyse the behaviour of clamped sandwich panels comprising equal thicknesses mild steel plates sandwiching an aluminium honeycomb core when subject to blast loadings. Pressure-time histories representative of blast loadings are applied to the front plate of the sandwich panel. The FE model is verified using the experimental test results for uniform and localised blast loading in the presence of a honeycomb core and with only an air gap between the sandwich plates. It is observed that for the particular core material, the load transfer to the back plate of the panel depends on the load intensity, core thickness and flexibility of the sandwich panels.     

Mechanical response of metallic honeycomb sandwich panel structures to high-intensity dynamic loading

Explosive tests were performed in air to study the dynamic mechanical response of square honeycomb core sandwich panels made from a super-austenitic stainless steel alloy. Tests were conducted at three levels of impulse load on the sandwich panels and solid plates with the same areal density. Impulse was varied by changing the charge weight of the explosive at a constant standoff distance. At the lowest intensity load, significant front face bending and progressive cell wall buckling were observed at the center of the panel closest to the explosion source. Cell wall buckling and core densification increased as the impulse increased. An air blast simulation code was used to determine the blast loads at the front surfaces of the test panels, and these were used as inputs to finite element calculations of the dynamic response of the sandwich structure. Very good agreement was observed between the finite element model predictions of the sandwich panel front and back face displacements and the experimental observations. The model also captured many of the phenomenological details of the core deformation behavior. The honeycomb sandwich panels suffered significantly smaller back face deflections than solid plates of identical mass even though their design was far from optimal for such an application.     

High-order free vibration analysis of sandwich plates with both functionally graded face sheets and functionally graded flexible core

Free vibration analysis of functionally graded material sandwich plates is studied using a refined higher order sandwich panel theory. A new type of FGM sandwich plates, namely, both functionally graded face sheets and functionally graded flexible core are considered. The functionally graded material properties follow a power-law function. The first order shear deformation theory is used for the face sheets and a 3D-elasticity solution of weak core is employed for the core. On the basis of continuities of the displacements and transverse stresses at the interfaces of the face sheets and the core, equations of motion are obtained by using Hamilton’s principle. The accuracy of the present approach is validated by comparing the analytical results obtained for a degradation model (functionally graded face sheets and homogeneous flexible core) with ones published in the literatures, as well as the numerical results obtained by finite element method and good agreements are reached. Then, parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of distribution of functionally graded material properties, thickness to side ratio on the vibration frequencies.     

Constitutive model for quasi‐static deformation of metallic sandwich cores

All‐metal sandwich construction holds promise for significant improvements in stiffness, strength and blast resistance for built‐up plate structures. Analysis of the performance of sandwich plates under various loads, static and dynamic, requires modelling of face sheets and core with some fidelity. While it is possible to model full geometric details of the core for a few selected problems, this is unnecessary and unrealistic for larger complex structures under general loadings. In this paper, a continuum constitutive model is proposed as an alternative means of modelling the core. The constitutive model falls within the framework of a compressible rate‐independent, anisotropic elastic–plastic solid. The general form of the model is presented, along with algorithmic aspects of its implementation in a finite element code, and selected problems are solved which benchmark the code against existing codes for limiting cases and which illustrate features specific to compressible cores. Three core geometries (pyramidal truss, folded plate, and square honeycomb) are considered in some detail. The validity of the approach is established by comparing numerical finite element simulations using the model with those obtained by a full three‐dimensional meshing of the core geometry for each of the three types of cores for a clamped sandwich plate subject to uniform pressure load. Limitations of the model are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vibration analysis of variable stiffness laminated composite sandwich plates

Abstract

This paper presents the free vibration analysis of a variable stiffness laminated composite sandwich plates. The fiber orientation angle of the face sheets (Skin) is assumed to vary linearly with the x-axis. The problem formulation is based on the higher-order shear deformation plate theory HDST C⁰ coupled with p-version of finite element method. The elements of the stiffness and mass matrices are calculated analytically. The sandwich plate is presented with a uniform mesh of four p-elements and the convergence properties are achieved by increasing the degree p of the hierarchical shape functions. A calculation program is developed to determine the fundamental frequencies for different physical and mechanical parameters such as plate thickness, core to face sheets thickness ratio, orientation angle of curvilinear fibers and boundary conditions. The results obtained show a good agreement with the available solutions in the literature. New comparison study of vibration response of laminated sandwich plate between the straight and curvilinear fibers is presented.     

A layerwise finite element formulation for vibration and damping analysis of sandwich plate with moderately thick viscoelastic core

Abstract

Most previous studies of viscoelastic sandwich plates were based on the assumption that damping was only resulting from shear deformation in the viscoelastic core. However, extensive and compressive deformations in the viscoelastic core should also be considered especially for sandwich plates with moderately thick viscoelastic core. This paper presents a finite element formulation for vibration and damping analysis of sandwich plates with moderately thick viscoelastic core based on a mixed layerwise theory. The face layers satisfy the Kirchhoff theory while the viscoelastic core meets a general high-order deformation theory. The viscoelastic core is modeled as a quasi-three-dimensional solid where other types of deformation such as longitudinal extension and transverse compression are also considered. To better describe the distribution of the displacement fields, auxiliary points located across the depth of the sandwich plate are introduced. And based on the auxiliary points, the longitudinal and transverse displacements of the viscoelastic core are interpolated independently by Lagrange interpolation functions. Quadrilateral finite elements are developed and dynamic equations are derived by Hamilton’s principle in the variation form. Allowing for the frequency-dependent characteristics of the viscoelastic material, an iterative procedure is introduced to solve the nonlinear eigenvalue problem. The comparison with results in the open literature validates the remarkable accuracy of the present model for sandwich plates with moderately thick viscoelastic core, and demonstrates the importance of the higher-order variation of the transverse displacement along the thickness of the viscoelastic core for the improvement of the analysis accuracy. Moreover, the influence of the thickness and stiffness ratios of the viscoelastic core to the face layers on the damping characteristics of the viscoelastic sandwich plate is discussed.     

Nonlinear Free Vibration of In-Plane Functionally Graded Rectangular Plates

Nonlinear free vibration of functionally graded (FG) plates with in-plane material inhomogeneity subjected to different boundary conditions is presented. The nonlinear equations of motion and the related boundary conditions are extracted based on the classical plate theory. Green's strain tensor together with von Kármán assumptions is employed to model the geometrical nonlinearity. The differential quadrature method as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is employed to discretize the governing equations in spatial domain. After validating the presented approach, parametric studies are performed to clarify the effects of different parameters on the nonlinear frequency parameters of the in-plane FG plates.     

Modeling and Re-Examination of Nonlinear Vibration and Nonlinear Bending of Sandwich Plates with Porous FG-GPLRC Core

In this article, an inhomogeneous model is proposed to predict the material properties of porous GPL-reinforced composite (GPLRC) and to predict the mechanical responses of a sandwich plate which consists of top and bottom metal face sheets and a porous GPLRC core. The GPLRC core is assumed to be multilayers, and each layer may have different values of porosity coefficient to achieve a piece-wise functionally graded pattern. Young's moduli along with shear modulus of porous GPLRC core are predicted by a generic Halpin-Tsai model in which the porosity is included. Thermo-mechanical properties of both metal face sheets and porous GPLRC core are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The governing equations of motion for porous sandwich plates are solved by applying a two-step perturbation approach to obtain the analytical solutions for the two cases of nonlinear vibration and nonlinear bending of porous sandwich plates. Numerical studies are performed to compare the results obtained from the present model and the equivalent isotropic model (EIM). The results reveal that, for most cases, the difference of natural frequencies between two models is over 30%, and the vibration frequency–amplitude curves and the bending load–deflection curves are underestimated by using the EIM.     

方孔蜂窝夹层板在爆炸载荷下的吸能特性

通过有限元数值模拟方法,对方孔蜂窝夹层板在爆炸冲击载荷下的变形机理和吸能特性进行了分析。在单位面积质量以及夹层板芯层薄壁间距、高度给定的情况下,通过对不同夹芯层相对密度下夹层板的吸能率以及上、下面板最大变形的比较,得出了最优的夹芯层相对密度。在此相对密度下,夹芯层吸能率最高,下面板变形最小,夹层板的抗冲击性能最优。同时还讨论了夹层板芯层薄壁间距、厚度、高度以及面板厚度对其各部分吸能率的影响,以得到最优化的夹层板结构。     

Post-buckling analysis of skew plates subjected to combined in-plane loadings

Post-buckling behavior of laminated composite, sandwich and functionally graded skew plates is analyzed in the present work. The problem formulation is based on higher-order shear deformation theory and von Kármán’s nonlinear kinematics. Linear mapping is used to transform the physical domain into the computational domain. Chebyshev polynomials are used for spatial discretization of governing differential equations and boundary conditions. The nonlinear terms are linearized using quadratic extrapolation technique. The effect of the skew angle on the buckling and post-buckling response of the composite, sandwich and FGM-clamped skew plates is investigated for different combinations of in-plane compressive loadings.     

碳纤维增强聚合物复合材料方形蜂窝夹层结构水下爆炸动态响应数值模拟

基于ABAQUS有限元仿真软件,建立了不同夹芯相对密度的碳纤维增强聚合物（Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer,CFRP）复合材料方形蜂窝夹层结构在水中爆炸冲击波载荷作用下的仿真模型,分析了结构的变形过程、夹芯的压缩特性及结构的失效及破坏情况。数值模拟结果表明,CFRP复合材料蜂窝夹芯压缩量在前面板速度降至与后面板相同时达到最大; CFRP复合材料蜂窝夹芯的最大压缩量随着初始压力的增大呈先缓慢增大后快速增大的趋势,其增大趋势在夹芯接近完全压缩时又趋于缓慢; CFRP复合材料夹层结构失效随夹芯相对密度和初始压力的变化呈现不同的模式,且其防护性能优于等重的层合结构。研究结果可以为复合材料夹层结构在水中冲击波载荷防护中的应用提供参考。      

Nonlinear vibration and bending of sandwich plates with nanotube-reinforced composite face sheets

This paper studied the large amplitude vibration and the nonlinear bending of a sandwich plate with carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC) face sheets resting on an elastic foundation in thermal environments. The material properties of CNTRC face sheets are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction, and are estimated through a micromechanical model. The governing equation of the plate that includes plate-foundation interaction is solved by a two-step perturbation technique. The thermal effects are also included and the material properties of both CNTRC face sheets and homogeneous core layer are assumed to be temperature-dependent. A detailed parametric study is conducted to study the effects of nanotube volume fraction, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, temperature change, foundation stiffness and in-plane boundary conditions on the nonlinear vibration characteristics and nonlinear bending behaviors of sandwich plates with functionally graded CNTRC face sheets. The results for the same plate with uniformly distributed CNTRC face sheets are also provided for comparison.     

Higher-order global-local theory with novel 3D-equilibrium-based corrections for static,frequency, and dynamic analysis of sandwich plates with flexible auxetic cores

In the present article, a high-order global-local theory with three-dimensional elasticity corrections is employed to trace the local and instantaneous variations of lateral deflections and stress components of sandwich plates with auxetic (negative Poisson ratio) cores under static and dynamic loads. Effects of the auxetecity of the core material on the natural frequencies are evaluated as well. The governing equations are extracted based on Hamilton's principle. The main novelties of the present research in comparison to the available literature and previous researches of the second author of the present paper are: (i) Presenting a higher-order global-local plate theory with a novel equilibrium-based three-dimensional elasticity corrections, (ii) Incorporation of the transverse flexibility of the core; a fact that is crucial when studying behaviors of thick or soft core sandwich plates, (iii) Frequency and dynamic behavior analyses (in addition to the traditional static analysis) of sandwich plates with soft cores by means of the presented accurate global-local theory, and (iv) Investigation of the negative Poisson ratio (auxeticity) effects of the core material on the static (stress) and dynamic responses and natural frequencies. All these items are accomplished here, for the first time. Since the transverse shear stresses are extracted based on the three-dimensional elasticity theory, in contract the traditional constitutive-based theories, the inter-laminar continuity condition of the transverse shear stresses is met. The verification results show that the presented finite element formulation leads to highly accurate results, even for thick or soft core sandwich plates. A comprehensive parametric study is accomplished to evaluate effects of the auxeticity of the core material and transverse compliance of the core on the resulting displacement and stress distributions, natural frequencies, and dynamic responses. Results reveal that auxeticity of the core material decreases the global and relative stresses and lateral deflections of the face sheets and the core compliance may lead to asynchronized movements of the face sheets and strengthen the local bending and extensions.