Numerical Investigations on the Ballistic Performance of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures Reinforced by Funcionally Graded Plates

Abstract

This study investigates damage mechanism and deformation of honeycomb sandwich structures reinforced by functionally graded plates under ballistic impact effect by means of explicit dynamic analysis using ANSYS LS-DYNA. The honeycomb sandwich structures consisted of two identical functionally graded (FG) facesheets having different material compositions through the plate thickness and an aluminum honeycomb core. The functionally graded facesheets were composed of ceramic (SiC) and metal (Al6061) phases. The through-thickness mechanical properties of facesheets were determined based on a power-law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. The locally effective material properties were evaluated using homogenization method which based on the Mori-Tanaka scheme. In the analyses, theoretical models which based on micro structural model of functionally graded materials were used. The effect of material composition of functionally graded facesheets on the ballistic performance of honeycomb sandwich structures was investigated and the penetration and perforation threshold energy values which are the most considerable parameters on ballistic performance and ballistic limit of the sandwich structures were determined.