Bending and Shear Response of Perturbated Honeycomb Lattices

This study examines the potential to customize the bending and transverse shear behavior of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels by introducing sinusoidal perturbations to their cell walls. Finite element analysis is used to investigate the effect of varying the amplitude and frequency of the introduced perturbations on the flexural and transverse shear stiffness and strength of perturbed aluminum cores. Results show that increasing the amplitude and frequency of the perturbations generally decreases the flexural and transverse shear stiffness and yield strength. Local deformations in the perturbed cores indicate that imposing perturbations encouraged the development of localized deformations in the curved cell walls, which increased the perturbed cores' compliance. The transverse shear and flexural responses at the highest frequencies and amplitudes exhibited a very smooth and compliant behavior compared to the unperturbed cores. The response of the perturbed cores can be attractive for applications involving impact energy mitigation, as they demonstrate an enhanced capacity to reduce and limit the force transmitted through them.