Shear Properties and User Material Modelling of Sandwich Panel Cores for Marine Structures

In the design of marine structures, structural design remains a critical activity, heavily guided by classification society rules that define dimensions of the structural elements. With the development of increasingly complex structures and the increasing use of composite materials in ship structural design, accurate knowledge of material properties, particularly those of sandwich panel cores, is essential for direct calculations. This article presents experimental data and numerical analysis results for the PVC core of sandwich panels, the selection of appropriate material models from the LS-DYNA standard material database, and the development of a user-defined material model to accurately capture the physical behaviour of foam cores in sandwich constructions. The comprehensive dataset obtained from polymer foam tests is made publicly available to support future structural calculations.