A Numerical Study on the Effect of Facesheet-Core Disbonds on the Buckling Load of Curved Honeycomb Sandwich Panels

A numerical study on the effect of facesheet-core disbonds on the post-buckling response of curved honeycomb sandwich panels is presented herein. This work was conducted as part of the development of a damage tolerance approach for the next-generation Space Launch System heavy lift vehicle payload fairing. As such, the study utilized full-scale fairing barrel segments as the structure of interest. The panels were composed of carbon fiber reinforced polymer facesheets and aluminum honeycomb core. The panels were analyzed numerically using the finite element method. Facesheet and core nodes in a predetermined circular region were detached to simulate a disbond induced via low-speed impact between the outer mold line facesheet and honeycomb core. Surface-to-surface contact in the disbonded region was invoked to prevent interpenetration of the facesheet and core elements. The diameter of this disbonded region was varied and the effect of the size of the disbond on the post-buckling response was observed. A significant change in the slope of the edge load-deflection response was used to determine the onset of global buckling and corresponding buckling load.