Crush dynamics of square honeycomb sandwich cores

Square honeycombs are effective as cores for all‐metal sandwich plates in that they combine excellent crushing strength and energy absorption with good stiffness and strength in out‐of‐plane shear and in‐plane stretch. In applications where sandwich plates must absorb significant energy in crushing under intense impulsive loads, dynamic effects play a significant role in the behaviour of the core. Three distinct dynamic effects can be identified: (i) inertial resistance, (ii) inertial stabilization of webs against buckling, and (iii) material strain‐rate dependence. Each contributes to dynamic strengthening of the core. These effects are illustrated and quantified with the aid of detailed numerical calculations for rates of deformation characteristic of shock loads in air and water. A continuum model for high rate deformation of square honeycomb cores is introduced that can be used to simulate core behaviour in large structural calculations when it is not feasible to mesh the detailed core geometry. The performance of the continuum model is demonstrated for crushing deformations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.