Abstract:
A computer program is developed to determine the buckling stress
and deflections of symmetric corrugated core sandwich panels. In
the program freedom for lateral deflections at core to face-plate
junction is allowed for. Provision is also made to study the
effect of variation of core bend radius.
A range of test specimens using four basic core configurations
is designed to assess the effect of core bend radius on the
buckling stress of the panel.
The computer program indicates that above a certain value of
core bend radius there is a marked drop in the value of critical
buckling stress and a change in buckling Mode.
The values of deflections at core to face-plate junctions at
low buckling wave-lengths are not reliable*
Due to the limited range of the experimental work, it is not
possible to draw any conclusions on the effect of core bend radius
on the buckling stress.
The method used for determining the experimental buckling load
is somewhat subjective in application, and its accuracy is difficult
to assess.
In general, the experimental values of buckling stresses are
15% higher than those predicted by the computer program. These
discrepancies are not large when dimensional and material property
variations are considered and indicate that the computer results
are giving the correct trend and are conservative.
Recommendations are made for :
(i) Investigation of the buckling deflections at low values of
buckling wave-lengths for specimens with high face-plateto-core thickness ratio.
(ii) A test programme covering a wider range of specimens
than that covered by the test programme in this study.
and (iii) Trying out the other two methods of determining the
buckling load.