Dynamic response of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels subjected to hypervelocity impact by porous volcanic rock projectile

The dynamic response and damage behavior of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels (HC/SPs) subjected to hypervelocity impact by volcanic rock projectiles were investigated by hypervelocity impact tests and hydrocode simulations. The experiments were conducted using a two stage light gas gun and the results showed that the failure modes in HC/SPs subjected to hypervelocity impact by volcanic rock projectiles mainly took forms of front-face denting and circular perforation, honeycomb core collapsing and rapture, rear-face petal-ling and perforation etc. A 3D discrete configuration of the porous volcanic rock projectiles was set up. The hypervelocity impact behavior of the HC/SPs was investigated through hydrocode modeling, within a Lagrange-SPH coupling method in LS-DYNA solver. It was found that the dynamic response and failure modes in the HC/SPs were significantly influenced by the impact location and the impact velocity of the volcanic rock projectile.