A new crushable foam model for polymer-foam core sandwich structures

An elastic-plastic, viscoelastic damage model to accurately describe the crushing and energy absorption of polymer foams in sandwich panels was implemented in ABAQUS Explicit. Good agreement was found between ABAQUS predictions and experimental results with Divinycell H100 foams under triaxial compression, triaxial compression-tension and triaxial compression-shear. The elastic-plastic viscoelastic damage model was used to simulate the response of a doubly curved foam core composite sandwich shell subjected to direct pressure pulse and water pressure pulse loading. Results using the new crushable foam model were compared to those using the ABAQUS built-in isotropic crushable foam model. It was found that sandwich panels with the more commonly used, isotropic crushable foam model overestimated the stiffness, strength and energy dissipation of sandwich shells with Divinycell H100 foam cores. The proposed elastic-plastic-viscoelastic-damage model would provide more accurate results and offer better protection of composite sandwich structures than the isotropic crushable foam model.

Automated summary

A new elastic-plastic, viscoelastic damage model was implemented in ABAQUS Explicit to accurately describe the behavior of polymer foams in sandwich panels. The new model showed good agreement with experimental results and outperformed the built-in model, providing more accurate predictions and better protection for composite sandwich structures.