A lattice deformation based model of metallic lattice sandwich plates subjected to impulsive loading

A lattice structure deformation mechanism based theoretical model is developed to predict the dynamic response of square lattice sandwich plates under impulsive loading. The analytical model is established on the basis of the three-stage framework proposed by Fleck and Deshpande (2004). In the first stage, the impulse transmitted from air shock loading to the sandwich plates by fluid-structure interaction is analytically calculated. The lattice core suffers non-uniform compression in the second stage due to the clamped boundary conditions. The structure deformation mechanism is introduced in the lattice core compression and the analytical nominal stress-strain curve of core compression accords well with previous experimental results. In the final stage, the sandwich plate is analyzed as a continuum plate with non-uniform thickness deduced by inconsistent deformation of the front and back sheets. The experiment results of square metallic sandwich plates with tetrahedral lattice core are presented and compared with analytical prediction to validate the theoretical model. Good agreements are found between the predicted and testing results for both the impulse transmitted to the sandwich plates and the maximum deflection of the back face sheet. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.