Impulsive Response of Rectangular Metal Sandwich Plate with a Graded Foam Core

An analytical study considering inhomogeneous core compression is conducted to investigate the impulsive response of fully clamped rectangular metal sandwich plate with a graded foam (GF) core. The dynamic compressive properties of GF under impulsive loading are theoretically modeled antecedently. The approximate analytical predictions are achieved for the impulsive response of rectangular sandwich plate with a linear strength distributed GF core along the thickness by using the relevant loci of a new yield criterion. The analytical predictions agree well with the finite element (FE) results and indicate that the sandwich plates with negative gradient design outperform their uniform counterparts in impulsive resistance. The present study provides an insight into understanding the blast resistance of the sandwich structures with inhomogeneous cores.