Metal sandwich plates subject to intense air shocks

Recent results on fluid–structure interaction for plates subject to high intensity air shocks are employed to assess the performance of all-metal sandwich plates compared to monolithic solid plates of the same material and mass per area. For a planar shock wave striking the plate, the new results enable the structural analysis to be decoupled from an analysis of shock propagation in the air. The study complements prior work on the role of fluid–structure interaction in the design and assessment of sandwich plates subject to water shocks. Square honeycomb and folded plate core topologies are considered. Fluid–structure interaction enhances the performance of sandwich plates relative to solid plates under intense air shocks, but not as significantly as for water blasts. The paper investigates two methods for applying the loading to the sandwich plate—responses are contrasted for loads applied as a time-dependent pressure history versus imposition of an initial velocity.