Determination of Elastic Properties of Reverted Hexagonal Honeycomb Core: FEM Approach

Abstract

Honeycomb structures are widely used in the applications such as satellites, aero planes, ships, bridges.... etc. due to their excellent mechanical properties. The prediction of the elastic constants for the honeycomb structures play a crucial role in the design of the structures using these materials. The experimental approach is the best way to determine the properties of the core but it is very expensive and time-consuming. Developments in the Finite Element theory has led the way to solve many real-world problems using computers by applying these methods. Therefore, FEM and analytical methods are the viable methods for the determination of the core properties in the honeycomb structures. In this paper, two different shapes of the honeycomb structures, hexagonal and reverted honeycombs were considered and the properties of the core were determined using finite element method. The main focus was given on finding out the out-of-plane properties because they are the most influential properties on the mechanical behavior of honeycomb sandwich structures. An MATLAB code was developed for analytical analysis of the honeycomb structure to study the variation of out of plane properties for both the types honeycomb structures with respect to the length of the honeycomb cell wall.