Response of Curved Sandwich Panels Subjected to Blast Loading

Curved sandwich panels with two aluminium face sheets and an aluminium foam core under air blast loadings were investigated experimentally and numerically. Specimens with two values of radius of curvature and different core/face sheet configurations with the same projected area were tested for three blast intensities. All four edges of the panels were fully clamped. The experiments were carried out by a four-cable ballistic pendulum with corresponding sensors. The impulse acting on the front face of the assembly, the deflection history at the center of the back face sheet, and the strain history at some characteristic points on the back face were obtained. Then the deformation/failure modes of specimens were classified and analyzed systematically. The commercial software LS-DYNA was employed to simulate those physical processes. The finite-element (FE) model was validated by the data from experiments. Detailed deformation and energy dissipation mechanisms were further revealed by the FE models. The valuable experimental data and results from FE models show that the initial curvature of a curved sandwich panel changes the deformation/collapse mode with an extended range for bending-dominated deformation mode, which suggests that the performance of the sandwich shell structures slightly exceeds that of both their equivalent solid counterpart and a flat sandwich plate in certain blast intensity ranges.

[1]  A. Kalamkarov,et al.  General micromechanical modeling of smart composite shells with application to smart honeycomb sandwich structures , 2007 .

[2]  Walter K. Vonach,et al.  Face layer wrinkling in sandwich shells of general configuration , 2003 .

[3]  Stephen R Reid,et al.  Dynamic compressive strength properties of aluminium foams. Part I—experimental data and observations , 2005 .

[4]  Norman Jones,et al.  The penetration energy of sandwich panel elements under static and dynamic loading. Part I , 1998 .

[5]  Vikram Deshpande,et al.  Dynamic Response of a Clamped Circular Sandwich Plate Subject to Shock Loading , 2004, Journal of Applied Mechanics.

[6]  Liviu Librescu,et al.  Dynamic response of doubly-curved anisotropic sandwich panels impacted by blast loadings , 2007 .

[7]  N. Fleck,et al.  The Resistance of Clamped Sandwich Beams to Shock Loading , 2004 .

[8]  Guoxing Lu,et al.  Analytical investigation and optimal design of sandwich panels subjected to shock loading , 2009 .

[9]  P.S.Bulson.  Explosive loading of engineering structures , 1997 .

[10]  Guoxing Lu,et al.  Experiments on curved sandwich panels under blast loading , 2010 .

[11]  Guoxing Lu,et al.  Deformation and failure of blast-loaded metallic sandwich panels: experimental investigations , 2008 .

[12]  Liviu Librescu,et al.  Dynamic buckling of flat and curved sandwich panels with transversely compressible core , 2006 .

[13]  M. Langseth,et al.  Close-range blast loading of aluminium foam panels , 2002 .

[14]  N. Fleck,et al.  The response of clamped sandwich beams subjected to shock loading , 2006 .

[15]  L. K. Enstock,et al.  Measurement of impulse from the close-in explosion of doped charges using a pendulum , 2007 .

[16]  Zhenyu Xue,et al.  Preliminary assessment of sandwich plates subject to blast loads , 2003 .

[17]  Tongxi Yu,et al.  Energy Absorption of Structures and Materials , 2003 .

[18]  Vikram Deshpande,et al.  Impulsive loading of clamped monolithic and sandwich beams over a central patch , 2005 .

[19]  L. Vu-Quoc,et al.  Geometrically exact sandwich shells: The dynamic case , 2000 .

[20]  C. Y. Tham,et al.  Numerical simulation on the interaction of blast waves with a series of aluminum cylinders at near-field , 2009 .

[21]  M. M. Ismail,et al.  Study of The Blast Waves from the Explosion of Nonspherical Charges , 1993 .

[22]  J. Hutchinson,et al.  Buckling of cylindrical sandwich shells with metal foam cores , 2000 .

[23]  J. B. Martin,et al.  Deformation of thin plates subjected to impulsive loading—a review Part II: Experimental studies , 1989 .

[24]  L. Librescu,et al.  A nonlinear theory for doubly curved anisotropic sandwich shells with transversely compressible core , 2003 .

[25]  Manfred Held.  Impulse Method for the Blast Contour of Cylindrical High Explosive Charges , 1999 .

[26]  Mehdi Farshad,et al.  Design and analysis of shell structures , 1992 .

[27]  Vikram Deshpande,et al.  Finite element analysis of the dynamic response of clamped sandwich beams subject to shock loading , 2003 .

[28]  Werner Goldsmith,et al.  Dynamic energy absorption characteristics of sandwich shells , 1993 .

[29]  Michele Meo,et al.  The response of honeycomb sandwich panels under low-velocity impact loading , 2005 .

[30]  A. G. Gibson,et al.  Low velocity perforation behaviour of polymer composite sandwich panels , 1998 .