Investigation of progressive failure in the composite sandwich panels with elastomeric foam core under concentrated loading

Abstract

Failure and damage of crushable materials employed as core for the sandwich structures reduces serviceability and energy absorption capacity of the components especially under bending load so that many beneficial properties seem to be achieved by application of noncrushable lightweight materials instead of crushable foams as core for the sandwich structures. In this paper, an elastomeric foam is employed as core for two aspect ratios of the composite sandwich panels and the enhancement of the load-carrying capacity in the elastomeric foam-cored sandwich panels is investigated in comparison to which is measured about the individual composite panels applied as skins. Both experimental and finite element simulation programs are included in the research. The load-carrying performance of the elastomeric foam-cored sandwich panels is considered dependent on two main features of the constituent materials as hyperelastic behavior of the foam core and progressive damage of the composite skins which are simulated in the finite element models in order to describe the failure mechanism in the panels. Collapse of the elastomeric foam-cored sandwich panels is considered due to connection of some failure lines in the composite skins; however, the foam core remains undamaged. The elastomeric foam core can transfer the load from the top composite skin to the bottom one so that a great energy absorption capacity is provided for these panels. The elastomeric foam after failure of the composite skins can mobilize the residual strength of the laminates to endure against large deformations prior to final collapse. By application of the composite laminates in sandwich form with elastomeric foam core, the maximum load carrying and energy absorption capacity of the composite laminates increased about 60 and 110%, respectively. The results show more favorite failure behavior for the elastomeric foam-cored sandwich panels in comparison to which is expected usually for the crushable foam-cored sandwich panels which may be concerned in many industrial applications.

Keywords

Sandwich panels elastomeric foam progressive failure hyperelastic behavior debonding

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Gibson

Ashby

. Cellular solids: structure and properties, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Carlsson

Kardomateas

. Structural and Failure Mechanics of Sandwich Composites, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer, Springer, 2011.

Nazari

Hosseini-Toudeshky

Kabir

. Experimental investigations on the sandwich composite beams and panels with elastomeric foam core. J Sandw Struct Mater. First Published 30 May 2017. DOI: 10.1177/1099636217701093.

Liu

Mang

. A critical assessment of volumetric strain energy functions for hyperelasticity at large strains. Z Angew Math Mech 1996; 76: 305–306.

Ghaemi

Behdinan

Spence

. On the development of compressible pseudo-strain energy density function for elastomers: part 1. Theory and experiment. J Mater Process Technol 2006; 178: 307–316.

Ghaemi

Behdinan

Spence

. On the development of compressible pseudo-strain energy density for elastomers: part 2. Application to finite element. J Mater Process Technol 2006; 178: 317–327.

Zhang

Andrieux

Sun

. Pseudo-elastic description of polymeric foams at finite deformation with stress softening and residual strain effects. Mater Des 2011; 32: 877–884.

Nazari

Kabir

Hosseini-Toudeshky

. Investigation of elastomeric foam response applied as core for composite sandwich beams through progressive failure of the beams. J Sandw Struct Mater. First Published 10 March 2017. DOI: 10.1177/1099636217697496.

Sadighi

Pouriayevali

. Quasi-static and low-velocity impact response of fully backed or simply supported sandwich beams. J Sandw Struct Mater 2008; 10: 499–524.

10.

Ivañez

Santiuste

Barbero

, et al. Numerical modelling of foam-cored sandwich plates under high-velocity impact. Compos Struct 2011; 93: 2392–2399.

11.

Panda

Katariya

. Stability and free vibration behaviour of laminated composite panels under thermo-mechanical loading. Int J Appl Comput Math 2015; 1: 475–490.

12.

Sahoo

Singh

Panda

. Nonlinear flexural analysis of shallow carbon/epoxy laminated composite curved panels: experimental and numerical investigation. J Eng Mech. First Published 8 January 2016. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001040.

13.

Sahoo

Panda

Singh

. Experimental and numerical investigation of static and free vibration responses of woven glass/epoxy laminated composite plate. Proc IMechE, Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications. First Published 7 August 2015. DOI: 10.1177/1464420715600191.

14.

Mohmmed

Zhang

Sun

, et al. Finite element analyses of low-velocity impact damage of foam sandwiched composites with different ply angles face sheets. Mater Des 2013; 47: 189–199.

15.

Lauke

Mäder

, et al. Tensile properties of short-glass-fiber and short-carbon-fiber reinforced polypropylene composites. Compos A Appl Sci Manuf 2000; 31: 1117–1125.

16.

Nazari AR. Investigation of load carrying and progressive failure in the composite sandwich panels with elastomeric foam core under biaxial bending. PhD Thesis, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, 2016. (in Persian).

17.

ABAQUS Inc. ABAQUS/Analysis user’s manual. Version 6.10, 2010.

18.

Rivlin

. Large elastic deformation of isotropic material IV. Further developments of the general theory. Philos Trans Roy Soc London Ser A – Math Phys Eng Sci A 1948; 241: 379–397.

19.

Ogden

. Recent advances in the phenomenological theory of rubber elasticity. Rubber Chem Technol 1986; 59: 361–383.

20.

Hashin

. On elastic behavior of fibers reinforced materials of arbitrary transverse phase geometry. J Mech Phys Solids 1965; 13: 119–134.

21.

Hashin

Rotem

. A fatigue criterion for fiber-reinforced materials. J Compos Mater 1973; 7: 448–464.

22.

Camanho PP and Davila CG. Mixed-mode decohesion finite elements for the simulation of delamination in composite materials. NASA/TM-2002-211737, 2002.

23.

Maimi

Camanho

Mayugo

, et al. A continuum damage model for composite laminates: part I – constitutive model. Mech Mater 2007; 39: 897–908.

24.

Bažant

ZP.

. Crack band theory for fracture of concrete. Mater Struct 1983; 16: 155–177.

25.

Barbero

Cosso

Roman

, et al. Determination of material parameters for Abaqus progressive damage analysis of E-glass epoxy laminates. Compos B Eng 2013; 46: 211–220.

26.

Maimi P, Camanho PP, Mayugo J, et al. A thermodynamically consistent damage model for advanced composites. NASA/TM-2006-214282, 2006.

27.

Rybicki

Kanninen

. A finite element calculation of stress intensity factors by a modified crack closure integral. Eng Fract Mech 1977; 9: 931–938.

28.

Krueger R. The virtual crack closure technique: history, approach and applications. NASA/CR-2002-2211628, ICASE Report No. 2002-10, 2002.

29.

Reuter

Jr . Crack extension in fiberglass reinforced plastics, Champaign: University of Illinois, 1965.

30.

ASTM. Standard test methods for rubber property-compression set, ASTM: D395–03, 2003.

31.

Bonet

Wood

. Nonlinear continuum mechanics for finite element analysis, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

32.

ASTM. Standard test method for mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites. ASTM: D5528–94a, 1994.