Dynamic crushing and energy absorption of sandwich structures with combined geometry shell cores

Dynamic crushing and energy absorption characteristics of sandwich structures with combined geometry shell cores were investigated experimentally and numerically. The effect of strain rate on the crushing behavior was presented by the crushing tests at quasi-static, intermediate and high strain rate regimes. It was shown that absorbed energy increased with increasing impact velocity. The effect of confinement on crushing behavior was shown by conducting confined experiments at quasi-static and dynamic rates. Higher buckling loads at lower deformation were observed in confined quasi-static crushing due to additional lateral support and friction provided by confinement wall. By using fictitious numerical models with strain rate insensitive material models, the effect of inertia and strain rate on crushing were shown. It was observed that, increase in impact velocity caused increase in inertial effects and strain rate effects were nearly independent from the impact velocity. The effects of multilayering were also investigated numerically. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.