The initial plastic failure of fully clamped geometrical asymmetric metal foam core sandwich beams

The initial plastic failure of fully clamped geometrical asymmetric metal foam core sandwich beams is analytically and experimentally investigated. Initial failure modes of the clamped asymmetric sandwich beams are observed, i.e. face yield, core shear and indentation. The analytical formulae for the initial failure loads are developed and used to construct the initial failure mechanism maps for the fully clamped geometrical asymmetric sandwich beams. It is shown that the initial failure modes of the sandwich beams depend on geometry and material properties of the sandwich beams. The predicted failure mechanisms of fully clamped asymmetrical sandwich beams are consistent with the experimental results and obviously different from those of simply supported ones. Finally, the minimum weight designs are presented by using the analytical formulae.