Quasi-Static Failure Analysis of Composite Sandwich Panels

Abstract

Due to many of advantages such as lightweighted, high-bending mechanical characteristics, composite sandwich materials play an important role in today’s structural manufacturing industry. This study is to aim at the low-velocity impact responses of sandwich plates subjected to a rigid, spherical-shaped impactor. The sandwich made of PVC core material (two kinds of core with different densities) and FRP facesheets (three kinds of fibrous laminae) were investigated experimentally and numerically. Because the dynamic behaviors of specimens due to low velocity impact is nearly the same to those in static indentation, the impact failure analysis of sandwich material can be simulated statically. Beside the experiment, finite element method was employed to analyze the static failure behaviors of sandwich panels. With the maximum stress failure criterion as well as a modified stiffness degradation method coded in the finite element software, the initial failure and sequential progressive failure process can be analyzed effectively.