Composite sandwich thermostructural behavior - Computational simulation

Computational methods have been developed for simulating the thermomechanical behavior of composite sandwiches, in which the analyses with several levels of progressive sophistication were used in conjunction with composite hygrothermomechanical theory. The sophistication levels include: (1) three-dimensional detailed finite element modeling of the honeycomb, the adhesive, and the composite faces; (2) three-dimensional finite element modeling assuming a homogeneous core; (3) laminate theory simulation; and (4) simple equations for predicting the equivalent properties of the honeycomb core. These levels have been packaged into a procedure embedded in a computer code streamlined for the simulation of the composite sandwich hygrothermal and structural behavior. It is shown that in order to properly simulate the thermomechanical response of the composite sandwich, all the honeycomb thermal and mechanical properties must be used.