Numerical research of the static stability of honeycomb composite materials

The article presents a numerical research of static stability of honeycomb-filled sandwich panels used in jet engine casing. The application of honeycomb-filled panels in aircraft manufacture has a number of advantages over one-piece constructions. For the assessment of the stability of the whole structure the static-state analysis of a full-scale model was performed at the initial stage of the research and the radial and axial displacements as well as tensile and compressive stresses were evaluated. A model of the periodic cell of a honeycomb sandwich panel was developed at the next stage. The use of such a model in the stability analysis is justified by the absence of boundary effects. To account for the initial shape deformation and the plastic material behavior a non-linear boundary-value problem was incorporated in the analysis. The influence of the honeycomb material (aluminum alloy and fiberglass), the time step, and the finite element size on the stability parameter was evaluated. The analysis of the results obtained was carried out, graphs were constructed. Further research of the honeycomb sandwich panel behavior demands more in-depth analysis of structurally similar elements and full-scale structures.