Nonlinear Theory of Sandwich Shells with a Transversely Soft Core Containing Delamination Zones and Edge Support Diaphragm

Abstract

Sandwich shells with transversely soft cores and skin layers supported along the edges by a thin deformable diaphragm with a ruled middle surface are considered. Delamination zones are assumed on the contact surfaces between the core and skin layers. The refined geometrically nonlinear theory has been constructed for these type of structures at small deformations and moderate displacements, which can describe prebuckling deformation and reveal all possible buckling mode shapes of skin layers (antisymmetric, symmetric, mixed bending and mixed bending-shear, as well as arbitrary mode shapes comprising all listed modes) and of the reinforcing diaphragm. This theory is based on the introduction of interaction forces between the core and skin layers and between the core and reinforcing diaphragm at each point of the contact surfaces as unknowns. The previously proposed variant of the generalized Lagrangian variational principle has been utilized in the derivation of the governing equations, static boundary conditions for the shell and reinforcing diaphragm, and kinematic coupling conditions between the core and skin and between the core and support diaphragm.