Web-Stiffened Sandwich Structures

Abstract

A model representation of a web-cored sandwich structure, which is based upon the energy principles of continuum theory while retaining the discrete nature of the webs, is studied. The determination of a second-order shear modulus, which measures local bending effects, accounts for the transverse shear deformation of the core. This notion is exemplified through consideration of the flexure and buckling of a web-stiffened sandwich beam, and by comparison of the results calculated from rigid frame analysis with those based on the sandwich solution. Additionally, the technique for employing classical Bernoulli-Euler modes in the eigenfunction expansion of displacement functions is extended and applied to the problems of free vibrations of a free-free web-stiffened sandwich beam.