Numerical study of the impact response of sandwich beams with empty or PMI foam-filled corrugated core

It is reported that sandwich beam with PMI foam filled corrugated core undergo larger mid-span deflection compared to that of empty cored beam. In order to explain the observed phenomenon and to reveal the underlying mechanism, numerical simulations of the dynamic response of empty and foam-filled corrugated cored sandwich beams loaded by aluminum foam projectiles have been performed based on commercial finite element code ABAQUS/Explicit. Influence of debonding between face sheets and cores is accessed by considering two bonding conditions: perfect bonding and no bonding. Experimental measurement is found to lie between the results for the two cases. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and FE predictions. The plastic dissipation of the substructures and the velocity history at the face sheet centers are analyzed for two types of sandwich beams. It is concluded that by foam filling the core strength is increased, resulting in more significant support to both front and back face sheets. The support to front face sheet reduces tearing while the support to back face sheet causes larger back face deflections.