Heating and Cryogenic Cooling Stress Analysis of Curved Sandwich Panels

The honeycomb sandwich panel can experience open-mode debonding failure due to temperature difference and curvature variation. In order to better understand the thermostuctural behavior and these debonding failures, the thermal stress analysis is performed for the honeycomb core sandwiches, with different radii of curvature. The panels are simply supported or clamped and are subjected to uniform heating on the convex side and cryogenic cooling on the concave portion. The panels are subjected to varied temperature distribution through the thickness and therefore developed the open-mode stress. Nonlinear finite element analysis code ABAQUS was used to analyze the effects of panel curvature and the boundary conditions on the open-mode stress in the curved sandwich panel with the designated temperatures. Based on analysis results, the critical stress points are found at the tangential centerline of the sandwich segment. The chance of open-mode debonding failure increases with the increase in curvature variation and large difference in temperature applied to each panel. The open-mode stress is also greater in the panels with simply supported edges rather than the clamped ends.