Numerical analysis of bent aluminium sandwich panels with different tubular cores

Abstract

Sandwich panels are frequently used in transportation, automotive, aerospace and marine sectors due to their high rigidity, strength and ability to absorb energy. In this study, finite element analyses investigated the bending behaviour of aluminium sandwich panels fixed at both ends with different geometrical tubular core structures. The sandwich panels consist of 6063-T5 Aluminium core and 7075-T6 Aluminium skin. The core structure used square, circle, triangle, honeycomb, vertical ellipse and horizontal ellipse tube geometries. The square tube-core sandwich panel has the highest specific load-carrying capacity (SLCC) among the different tube-core geometries. In the square tube-core sandwich panel, where the number of tubes varies, the seven-tube-core panel showed the highest SLCC.