In the aeronautical field, sandwich structures are widely used for secondary structures like flaps or landing gear doors. The modeling of low velocity/low energy impact, which can lead to a decrease of the structure strength by 50%, remains a designer's main problem. Since this type of impact has the same effect as quasi-static indentation, the study focuses on the behavior of honeycomb cores under compression. The crushing phenomenon has been well identified for years but its mechanism is not described explicitly and the model proposed may not satisfy industrial purposes. To understand the crushing mechanism, honeycomb test specimens made of Nomex™, aluminum alloy and paper were tested. During the crushing, a CCD camera showed that the cell walls buckled very quickly. The peak load recorded during tests corresponded to the buckling of the common edge of three honeycomb cells. Further tests on corner structures to simulate only one vertical edge of a honeycomb cell show a similar behavior. The different specimens exhibited similar load/displacement curves and the differences observed were only due to the behavior of the different materials. As a conclusion of this phenomenological study, the hypothesis that loads are mainly taken by the vertical edge can be made. So, a honeycomb core subjected to compression can be modeled by a grid of nonlinear springs. A simple analytical model was then developed and validated by tests on Nomex™ honeycomb core indented by different sized spherical indenters. A good correlation between theory and experiment was found. This result can be used to satisfactorily model using finite elements the indentation on a sandwich structure with a metallic or composite skin and honeycomb core.

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Abstract.In the aircraft industry, manufacturers have to decide quickly whether an impacted sandwich needs repairing or not. Certain computation tools exist at present but they are very time consuming and they also fail to perfectly model the physical phenomena involved in an impact. In a previous publication, the authors demonstrated the possibility of representing the NomexTM honeycomb core by a grid of nonlinear springs and have pointed out both the structural behaviour of the honeycomb and the influence of core-skin boundary conditions. This discrete approach accurately predicts the static indentation on honeycomb core alone and the indentation on sandwich structure with metal skins supported on rigid flat support. In this study, the domain of validity of this approach is investigated. It is found that the approach is not valid for sharp projectiles on thin skins. In any case, the spring elements used to model the honeycomb cannot take into account the transverse shear that occurs in the core during the bending of a sandwich. To overcome this strong limitation, a multi-level approach is proposed in the present article. In this approach, the sandwich structure is modelled by Mindlin plate elements and the computed static contact law is implemented in a non linear spring located between the impactor and the structure. Thus, it is possible to predict the dynamic structural A c c e p t e d m a n u s c r i p t response in the case of low-velocity/low-energy impact on metal-skinned sandwich structures.A good correlation with dynamic experimental tests is achieved. Keywords.Sandwich structures, low velocity/low energy impact, finite element nonlinear analysis, indentation. 1-IntroductionSandwich structures exhibit static properties such as high stiffness-to-weight ratio and high buckling loads which are of great importance in the aeronautics field. Nevertheless, the current applications on commercial airplanes remain mainly limited to secondary structures like control surface or floor panels. In the field of helicopters where stress levels are lower, full sandwich structures are already in flight. In fact, one of the main limitations is linked to a lack of knowledge on the effects induced by impact damages [1]. However, in service, such structures are exposed and are often impacted during taxiing manoeuvres or take-off. They can also be damaged by tool drops during maintenance operations [2] and [3]. In such circumstances, the aircraft manufacturer has to inform the users very quickly of whether the impacted structure needs a repair or not. The study presented in this article is a step toward the final objective, which is to provide the aerospace industry with an inverse method. In this method, a 3D picture of the damage is first made by the airline company. Then, based on the shape of the impact, the impactor's shape is found and both the impact damage and the residual strength would be computed. All the approaches presented have a common feature which is to consider the honeycomb as a homogeneous material. Recent...

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