Thermal-Mechanical Optimization of Folded Core Sandwich Panels for Thermal Protection Systems of Space Vehicles

Abstract

The integrated thermal protection system (ITPS) is a complicated system that addresses both mechanical and thermal considerations. An M-pattern folded core sandwich panel packed with low-density insulation material provides inherently low mass for a potential ITPS panel. Herein, we identify the most influential geometric parameters and establish a viable, computationally efficient optimization procedure. Variables considered for optimization are geometric dimensions of the ITPS, while temperature and deflection are taken as constraints. A one-dimensional (1D) thermal model based on a modified form of the rule of mixtures was established, while a three-dimensional (3D) model was adopted for linear static analyses. Parametric models were generated to facilitate a design of experiment (DOE) study, and approximate models using radial basis functions were obtained to carry out the optimization process. Sensitivity studies were first conducted to investigate the effect of geometric parameters on the ITPS responses. Then optimizations were performed for both thermal and thermal-mechanical constraints. The results show that the simplified 1D thermal model is able to predict temperature through the ITPS thickness satisfactorily. The combined optimization strategy evidently improves the computational efficiency of the design process showing it can be used for initial design of folded core ITPS.

Creative design for sandwich structures: A review

“…Rich designs in origami offer great freedom to design the performance of such folded core sandwich structures. [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147] Typical origami patterns including Miura pattern, 19,20,[128][129][130][131] Resch's pattern, [132][133][134] Waterbomb pattern 135 and Yoshimura pattern. Inspired by Miura-folded origami pattern, Zhou et al 19,20,128 designed sandwich panel with V-pattern folded core and M-pattern folded core to perform as an integrated thermal protection system.…”

“…Zhou et al 20 conducted thermal-mechanical optimization of V-pattern folded core sandwich panels for thermal protection systems. Zhou et al 19 developed an improved analytical rule of mixtures approach for calculating thermal conductivity considering shape of M-pattern folded core with Inconel 718 top-face sheet, Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy folded core, and aluminum 2024 alloy are bottom-face sheet.…”

“…128 –147 Typical origami patterns including Miura pattern, 19,20,128 –131 Resch’s pattern, 132 –134 Waterbomb pattern 135 and Yoshimura pattern. Inspired by Miura-folded origami pattern, Zhou et al 19,20,128 designed sandwich panel with V-pattern folded core and M-pattern folded core to perform as an integrated thermal protection system. The influences of various factors on the V-pattern folded core radar cross section (RCS) are investigated.…”

“…The advantages of sandwich structures include enhanced energy absorption properties, great stiffness to weight ratios, excellent ballistic resistance performance, and good thermal and acoustic isolation properties. These benefits of sandwich structures lead to wide range of engineering applications including integrated thermal protection systems, [18][19][20] marine manufacturing, 21,22 and aeronautical and aerospace industries. 23,24 Creative design 25 procedure for sandwich structure is described in Figure 2.…”

Modification of superalloy honeycomb thermal protection system

“…Such analyzes are rarely published in the literature. Often, simulation results are disseminated for models of panels not damaged as a result of thermal or thermomechanical calculations (Ping et al, 2015;Zhou et al, 2017;Heimbs et al, 2008;Rao et al, 2014). One of the reasons is the lack of accurate information about the data related to the properties of materials and specific ambient conditions.…”