Comparative study on the blast load response of woven and lattice core metallic sandwich panels

Abstract

Sandwich structures are potential alternatives to monolithic plates for the purpose of absorbing energy and managing the impulse associated with blast loading. The study of sandwich structures subjected to blast loading is a rapidly expanding area of activity. Sandwich structures are extensively used in blast dissipation applications on account of their excellent physical and mechanical properties. These sacrificial cladding structures absorb energy through progressive plastic deformation of the front-facing plate and the core layer; thus minimizing the transfer of the peak force to the non-sacrificial structure. The core absorbs most of the energy and hence has a significant influence on the blast behavior of sandwich structures. The core layer can have several topologies, which in turn have various configurations. The present study numerically evaluated and compared the effectiveness of using Triangular Woven and Pyramidal Lattice core configurations in sandwich panels for resisting blast loads. The parametric study consisted of the effect of change in outer layer thicknesses of sandwich panels and the application of successive blast loads in the performance of the sandwich panels. The study was conducted for seven outer layer thickness combinations modeled in ANSYS Workbench Explicit Dynamics. All the models were subjected to a blast load with the same scaled distance. The comparison of the simulated results was used to determine the more suitable core configuration for dissipating blast loads. Pyramidal lattice panels were found to be 5% and 48% more efficient than a triangular woven panel of comparable relative core density under normal blast load and successive blast load respectively.