Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Composite Folded Sandwich Core Structures Under Compression

The characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of folded core structures for advanced sandwich composites under flatwise compression load using a virtual testing approach is presented. In this context dynamic compression test simulations with the explicit solvers PAM-CRASH and LS-DYNA are compared to experimental data of two different folded core structures made of aramid paper and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). The focus of the investigations is the constitutive modelling of the cell wall material, the consideration of imperfections and the representation of cell wall buckling, folding or crushing phenomena. The consistency of the numerical results shows that this can be a promising and efficient approach for the determination of the effective mechanical properties and a cell geometry optimisation of folded core structures.