Low Velocity Impact Behavior of Aluminum Honeycomb Structures

Abstract

Impact behaviors of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels (AHSPs) are investigated experimentally by using a drop weight test setup. The specimens of 12.7 mm cell size were tested by impacting at four different initial contact points, namely face center, corner, long edge and short edge of core cells, with two impactors of weights 5.25 kg and 11.9 kg, respectively. Dynamic nonlinear transient analysis was also carried out by a finite element simulation model developed based on continuum damage mechanics to account for nonlinear and elastoplastic behavior. The results revealed that while the impact behaviors of AHSPs were nearly the same for low impact energy, they were different for high impact energy. The peak resistance force of AHSPs was the highest for impact at the face center and the lowest for impact at the short edge of the core cells. The results of FE simulation revealed that the real time deformation produced fracture when the crack initiated and propagated to the honeycomb core from the facesheet.

Harpoon technology development for the active removal of space debris

“…Specifically, the nature of failure will be determined by the point at which the projectile impacts in relation to the H/C cell. This observation was noted by Lee et al, where they concluded that impact behaviour is different depending on whether it occurs at the face, corner, short or long edges of the core cells (Lee et al, 2010). Of note, in regards to impact into spacecraft, unless the impact site is a radiator panel or solar array, most of the structure will be covered with MLI and this has been shown to help trap inside the satellite any small particles created during the harpoon impact (Reed and Barraclough, 2013).…”

Modelling low velocity impact induced damage in composite laminates

“…The basic strategy to model the individual damage mechanisms was to define the damage model for different components, respectively. To simulate the low velocity impact response of composite sandwich structure, the continuum damage mechanics based damage criteria were defined for predicting the intra-laminar damage of composite face sheet with delamination using cohesive zone elements while the mechanical behaviour of honeycomb core can be modelled, referring to the experimentally measured data (Aktay et al 2008;Liu et al 2017) or damage model for Nomex (Chen et al 2017;Liu et al 2015;Giglio et al 2012) or Aluminium honeycomb (Lee et al 2010;Kay 2003).…”

Experimental Analysis and Numerical Simulation on Impact Response of Sand-filled Aluminium Honeycomb Sandwich Structure

“…Thanks to good mechanical properties and strong energy adsorption, aluminium honeycomb sandwich structures [1] have been extensively utilized in aerospace, protection, automobile, shipping and other fields. As a research hotspot, sandwich structure performance is mainly improved in three ways.…”