Transient Blast Response of Sandwich Plates by Dynamic Elasticity

Abstract

The three-dimensional linear dynamic elasticity problem formulation and solution for a generally asymmetric sandwich plate consisting of core and face sheets that are orthotropic, and subjected to blast loading, is presented. Laplace transforms are used to obtain ordinary differential equations in the complex Laplace space (with the variable being the through-thickness coordinate), which are subsequently solved in closed form for a simply supported plate, with the solution involving a cubic characteristic equation with complex coefficients. Subsequently, the time response is obtained by a numerical inverse Laplace transform by use of the Euler method. A realistic material and blast case is used to demonstrate the transient behavior for the displacements and face sheet/core interfacial transverse normal and shear stresses. The elasticity results are compared with the predictions of the first-order shear deformation plate theory as well as a high-order sandwich panel theory. This dynamic elasticity solution can serve as a benchmark in assessing the accuracy of sandwich-plate theories.