Study on the Dynamic Response of Slender Sandwich Beams Loaded by Rectangular Pressure Pulse Considering Saturation Analysis

The dynamic response of fully clamped slender metal foam core sandwich beams subjected to a uniformly distributed rectangular pressure pulse is investigated theoretically and numerically, in which saturation analysis is considered. The stage of core compression is theoretically analyzed based on the one-dimensional plastic shock wave analysis. It is assumed that this stage and the global bending/stretching stage are decoupled, which is verified by numerical calculations for slender sandwich beams. Then according to the membrane factor method, the response in the global bending/stretching stage is theoretically studied, and the saturated deflection, saturated time and saturated impulse are obtained. Finite element analysis is also conducted and there is a good agreement between the theoretical predictions and the numerical results. Finally, the influences of geometry, material and load on the dynamic response and saturation phenomenon of sandwich beams are discussed. A minimum value of the saturated impulse is found to exist for a sandwich beam under a pressure pulse of different amplitudes.