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The paper presents the experimental and numerical studies of sandwich panels with a hybrid core. The sandwich panel consists of external steel facings and a core, which is made of polyurethane foam or mineral wool or a combination of those two materials. The polyurethane foam material has a low weight and high thermal insulation properties, while the mineral wool material can provide high acoustic insulation and excellent fire resistance. Various proportions of the core materials are taken into account. It is assumed that a proper combination can provide the benefits of both materials. The structural behavior of a sandwich structure with a hybrid core is observed during laboratory tests. The failure mechanism is investigated in a four-point bending test. The material parameters of the core and facings are determined in standardized tests. The obtained parameters are used for FE simulations of the four-point bending tests. The criteria of damage initiation and propagation are defined in the interface layer of the numerical model. A satisfactory correlation between laboratory tests and numerical results is reported. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis of the numerical model response to the variation of the parameters of the interface is presented.

The need for more effective defence systems is of critical importance because of the rising risk of explosive attacks. Sandwich panels are used as plastically deforming sacrificial structures, absorbing blast wave energy. To the authors’ knowledge, the blast behaviour of sandwich panels with connected (welded/bolted/riveted) corrugated layers has been well covered in literature. Hence, the aim of this numerical study was to develop new, easy-to-build, non-expensive, graded sandwich panel with ‘unconnected’ corrugated layers that can be used as a multipurpose sacrificial protective structure against wide range of blast threats. The proposed sandwich panel is composed of six unconnected aluminium (AL6063-T4) core layers encased in a steel (Weldox 460E) frame with 330 × 330 × 150 mm overall dimensions. The numerical analysis was conducted using Abaqus/Explicit solver. First, the performance of four different nongraded layer topologies (trapezoidal, triangular, sinusoidal, and rectangular) was compared, when subjected to ~16 MPa peak reflected over-pressure (M = 0.5 kg of TNT at R = 0.5 m). Results showed that the trapezoidal topology outperformed other topologies, with uniform progressive collapse, lower reaction force, and higher plastic dissipation energy. Then, the trapezoidal topology was further analysed to design a ‘graded’ sandwich panel that can absorb a wide range of blast intensities (~4, 7, 11, 13, and 16 MPa peak reflected over-pressures) by using a (0.4, 0.8, 1.2 mm) stepwise thickness combination for the layers. In conclusion, the superior performance of the proposed sandwich panel with unconnected graded layers can be considered as a novel alternative to the conventional costly laser-welded sandwich panels. Applications of the new solution range from protecting civil structures to military facilities.

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Abstract. The paper addresses the problems of the sensitivity analysis and optimal design of multi-span sandwich panels with a soft core and flat thin steel facings. The response functional is formulated in a general form allowing wide practical applications. Sensitivity gradients of this functional with respect to dimensional, material and support parameters are derived using adjoint variable method. These operators account for the jump of the slope of a Timoshenko beam or a Reissner plate at the position of concentrated active load or reaction, thus extending the sensitivity operators known in literature. The jump of slope is the effect of shear deformation of the core. Special attention is focussed on sensitivity and optimisation allowing for variable support position and stiffness, because local phenomena observed in supporting area of sandwich plates often initiate failure mechanisms. Introducing optimally located elastic supports allows to reduce the unfavourable influence of temperature on the state of stress. Several examples illustrate the application of derived sensitivity operators and demonstrate their exactness.