In-plane impact behavior of honeycomb structures filled with linearly arranged inclusions

Honeycomb structures filled with linearly arranged inclusions were analyzed with a finite element method (FEM) to study how the arrangement of rigid inclusions affects the in-plane impact behavior of honeycomb structures. Each model was divided into several cell regions by inclusion lines. The analysis revealed the effect of inclusion lines on the mean stress of the cell region, maximum displacement of the cell region, and the order of deformed cell regions. Maximum displacement of the cell region was proportional to the width of the cell region, and mean stress of the cell region decreased as the width of the cell region increased. Approximate equations for the maximum displacement and mean stress of the cell region were derived. The approximations accounted for the deformation process of the honeycomb models with inclusion lines and revealed the dependence of the order of the deformed cell region on the mean stress of the regions. The validity of the approximate equations was confirmed by comparing them with experimental results. It was found that the approximate equations enabled us to design the in-plane impact behavior of honeycomb structures filled with linearly arranged inclusions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.