Effective properties for sandwich plates with aluminium foil honeycomb core and polymer foam filling – Static and dynamic response

The estimation of static and eigenvibration properties of honeycomb sandwich reinforced by polymeric foam were investigated in the paper. A new “real microstructure” numerical 3D FEM model was proposed for the analysis in which the face materials and the honeycomb were modelled by shell elements, whereas filling foam was modelled by solid elements. Two variants of the honeycomb sandwich panel were considered: with and without polymer foam filling. Static and modal analyses have been performed in both, filled and hollow cases, to observe the effect of core stabilization with foam, particularly for higher natural frequencies. The effective properties of the honeycomb sandwich panels were estimated for both considered cases. Similar calculations have been made for the core materials without top and bottom faces and for the sandwich plate without honeycomb core structure (only polymer foam). One can observe: (1) the substantial increase of the effective elastic properties of the plate; (2) that the eigenvibration properties depend strongly on: the face material, honeycomb core and filling materials properties. The above conclusions are important for design process of structural parts.