Strength Analysis of an Aircraft Sandwich Structure with a Honeycomb Core: Theoretical and Experimental Approaches

Abstract

In this paper, the strength of aircraft sandwich structure with honeycomb core under bending load was evaluated theoretically and experimentally based on failure mode maps. A failure mode map for the loading under three-point bending was constructed theoretically to specify the failure modes and corresponding load. Three point bending test for aluminum honeycomb sandwich beam has been achieved to measure the peak load and maximum deflection. The obtained results elucidated a good agreement between the theoretical solutions and experimental tests, where the error ratio was not exceeded 12%. The core height, the cell size and the cell wall thickness were selected to explore the effect of honeycomb parameters on the strength of sandwich structure. In order to obtain the optimum solution of peak load and maximum deflection and energy absorption, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used. Results showed that the maximum bending load, minimum deflection, and maximum energy absorption were found at 25 mm core height, 10 mm size cell and 1 mm cell wall thickness. The optimal value of maximum bending load, minimum deflection and maximum energy absorption were 1975.3415 N, 1.0402 mm and 1.0229 J respectively.