Nonlinear vibration behaviours of foam-filled honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shells: Theoretical and experimental investigations

In this study, the nonlinear vibration behaviours of foam-filled honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shells (FHSCSs) are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Initially, a time-domain minimum residual (TDMR) method is first adopted for the analysis of nonlinear free and forced vibrations of the FHSCSs, which is based on a dynamical model developed, with the effective material parameters of the foam-filled honeycomb core being obtained by employing the Gibson method and the Hamilton equivalence technique. Based on the high-order shear deformation shell principle and von Karman's theory, the nonlinear natural frequencies and resonant responses are solved using the Broyden iterative approach and TDMR method. Furthermore, several literature results are utilized for the rough verification of such a method. Meanwhile, the FHSCS specimens are made manually and comprehensive tests with various base excitation energies are undertaken to provide a thorough validation of the current method. It can be found that the largest calculation errors of natural frequencies and resonant responses are 4.9 and 12.3%, respectively. Finally, the influences of the core form and base excitation amplitudes on the nonlinear vibration behaviours of the FHSCSs are examined. It can be noticed that the foam-filled FHSCS structure exhibits a more excellent anti-vibration capability compared to the non-foam-filled structure. The solving method, fabrication technique, and valuable findings in the current study highlight the path for the design and implementation of such advanced shells.