Three-point bending of physically asymmetric metal sandwich beams with aluminum foam core: Failure behavior and optimal design

The failure behavior of physically asymmetric metal foam core sandwich beams under three-point bending is studied experimentally and analytically. Five failure modes including indentation, face yield, core shear (Type A), core shear (Type AB) and core shear (Type A-AB) were observed in the three-point bending tests. Analytical formulae for the critical loads of different failure modes are presented, and failure mechanism maps are constructed based on the formulae. There is a reasonable agreement between the analytical predictions and the experimental results. The effects of face material strain hardening and exchanging two faces, on the failure behavior of physically asymmetric metal sandwich beams are studied. Optimal designs are performed for the load-carrying capacity of physically asymmetric sandwich beams under three-point bending. Based on the optimization results, a method to compare the performances of physically asymmetric sandwich beams with various material combinations is proposed.