Damage tolerance and residual strength of composite sandwich structures

Abstract: The exploitation of sandwich structures as a means toachieve high specific strength and stiffness is relatively new.Therefore, the knowledge of its damage tolerance is limitedcompared to other structural concepts such as truss bars andmonocoque plate solutions.Several aspects of the damage tolerance of sandwichstructures are investigated. The influence of impact velocityonresidual strength is investigated. Sandwich panels withfaces of glass fiber reinforced vinylester are impacted bothwith very high velocity and quasi static. The residual strengthafter impact is found to be similar for both cases of impactvelocity.Curved sandwich beams subjected to opening bending momentare studied. Faceñcore debonds of varying size areintroduced between the compressively loaded face sheet and thecore. Finite element analysis in combination with a pointstress criterion is utilized to predict the residual strengthof the beams. It is shown that it is possible to predict thefailure load of the beams with face-core debond.Using fractography the governing mode of failure ofcompressively NCF-carbon is characterized. Sandwich panelssubjected to compression after impact are shown to fail byplastic micro buckling.The residual compressive strength after impact of sandwichpanels is investigated. Sandwich panels with face sheets ofnon-crimp fabric (NCF) carbon are subjected to different typesof impact damages. Predictions of residual strength are madeusing the Budiansky, Soutis, Fleck (BSF) model. The residualstrength is tested, and the results are compared topredictions. Predictions and tests correlate well, and indicatethat the residual strength is dependent on damage size and notthe size of the damaged panel.A study of the properties of a selection of fiberreinforcements commonly used in sandwich panels is conducted.The reinforcements are combined with two types of core materialand three types of matrix. Also the influence of laminatethickness is tested. Each combination materials is tested inuni-axial compression, compressive strength after impact andenergy absorption during quasi static indentation. Thespecimens which are tested for residual strength are eithersubjected to quasi-static or dynamic impact of comparableenergy level. Prediction of the residual strength is made andcorrelates reasonably whith the test results. The tests showthat if weight is taken into account the preferred choice offiber reinforcement is carbon.