• Composites Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.15-22
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• 2008

This paper describes the results of structural integrity and crashworthiness of Automatic Guideway Transit(AGT) vehicle made of sandwich composites. The applied sandwich composite of vehicle structure was composed of aluminum honeycomb core and WR580/NF4000 glass fabric/epoxy laminate composite facesheet. Material testing was conducted to determine the input parameters for the composite facesheet model, and the effective equivalent damage model fer the orthotropic honeycomb core material. The finite element analysis using ANSYS v11.0 was dont to evaluate structural integrity of AGT vehicle according to JIS E 7105 and ASCE 21-98. Crashworthiness analysis was carried out using explicit finite element code LS-DYNA3D with the lapse of time. The crash condition was frontal accident with speed of 10km/h at rigid wall. The results showed that the structural integrity and crashworthiness of AGT vehicle were proven under the specified loading and crash conditions. Also, the modified Chang-Chang failure criterion was recommended to evaluate the failure modes of composite structures after crashworthiness event.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.605-628
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• 2016

The energy absorption characteristics of diamond core sandwich cylindrical columns under axial crushing process depend greatly on the amount of material which participates in the plastic deformation. Both the single-objective and multi-objective optimizations are performed for columns under axial crushing load with core thickness and helix pitch of the honeycomb core as design variables. Models are optimized by multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm to achieve maximum specific energy absorption (SEA) capacity and minimum peak crushing force (PCF). Results show that optimization improves the energy absorption characteristics with constrained and unconstrained peak crashing load. Also, it is concluded that the aluminum tube has a better energy absorption capability rather than steel tube at a certain peak crushing force. The results justify that the interaction effects between the honeycomb and column walls greatly improve the energy absorption efficiency. A ranking technique for order preference (TOPSIS) is then used to sort the non-dominated solutions by the preference of decision makers. That is, a multi-criteria decision which consists of MOPSO and TOPSIS is presented to find out a compromise solution for decision makers. Furthermore, local and global sensitivity analyses are performed to assess the effect of design variable values on the SEA and PCF functions in design domain. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, it is concluded that for both models, the helix pitch of the honeycomb core has greater effect on the sensitivity of SEA, while, the core thickness has greater effect on the sensitivity of PCF.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.105-117
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• 2022

Impact resistance efficiency of the newly designed sandwich beam with a laterally arched core as bio-inspired by the woodpecker is numerically investigated. The principal components of the beam comprise a dual-core system sandwiched by the top and bottom laminated CFRP skins. Different materials, including hot melt adhesive, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), epoxy resin (EPON862), aluminum (Al6061), and mild carbon steel (AISI1018), are considered for the side-arched core layer of the beam for impact efficiency assessment. The aluminum honeycomb takes the role of the second core. Contact force, stress, damage formation, and impact energy for beams equipped with different materials are examined. A diversity in performance superiority is noticed in each of these indicators for different core materials. Therefore, for overall performance appraisal, the impact resistance efficiency index, which covers several chief impact performance parameters, of each sandwich beam is computed and compared. The impact resistance efficiency index of the structure equipped with the AISI1018 core is found to be the highest, about 3-10 times greater than other specimens, thus demonstrating its efficacy as the optimal material for the bio-inspired dual-core sandwich beam system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2010

The honeycomb composite joint structure designed for application to a tilting KTX railroad car body is subjected to bending loads of a cantilever type. Honeycomb sandwich composite panel-joint attached in the real tilting car body was fabricated and sectioned as several beam-joint specimens for the bending test. The fracture behaviors of these specimens under static loads were different from those under cyclic loads. Static bending loads caused shear deformation and fracture in the honeycomb core region, while fatigue cyclic bend loading caused delamination along the interface between the composite skin and the honeycomb core, and/or caused a fracture in the welded part jointed with the steel under-frame. These fracture behaviors could occur in other industrial honeycomb composite joints with similar sub-structures, and be used for improving design parameters of a honeycomb composite joint structure.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.209-215
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• 2016

The failure of composite sandwich structures with thickness and material variation was studied. The main body of the structure is sandwich plate made of the carbon composite face and Aluminum honeycomb core. It is connected with composite laminated flange without core through transition region of tapered sandwich panel with foam core. Tension and compression tests were conducted for the total of 6 panels, 3 for each. Test results showed that the panels under compression are vulnerable to the face failure along the material discontinuity line between two different cores. However the failure load of which panel does not show such failure can carry 16% more load and fails in honeycomb core and face debonding. For the tensile load, the extensive delamination failure was observed at the corner radius which connects the panel and the flange. The average failure load for compression is about 7 times the tensile failure load. Accordingly, these sandwich structures should be applied to the components that endure the compressive loadings.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.128-134
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• 2002

Outer surfaces of KSR-III are insulated to protect outer structure and inner payloads from the aerodynamic heating. The characteristics of insulation material (BMS 10-102), selected through careful tests and thermal analyses, are low heat transfer rate and low density. It is applied in a wet and continuous spray pattern for outer surfaces of KSR-III. In the present study, the honeycomb sandwich structure of nose fairing, which is one of the typical multi-layer structures of KSR-III, is thermally analyzed with insulation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.387-398
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• 2002

The impact response and damage of CLAS panel was investigated experimentally. The facesheet material used was RO4003 woven-glass hydrocarbon/ceramic and the core material was Nomex honeycomb with a cell size of 3.2mm and a density of 96 kg/㎥. The shield plane used was RO4003 and 2024-T3 aluminum. Static indentation and impact test was conducted to characterize the type and extent of the damage observed in two CLAS panels, and the performance of antenna used in a wireless LAN system. Correlation of peak contact force, residual indentation and the delamination area shows impact damage of the panel with an aluminum shield plane is larger than that of the panel with RO4003 shield plane, although the former is more penetration resistant. The damage was observed by naked eye, ultrasonic inspection and cross sectioning. The shape and size of delamination was estimated by ultrasonic inspection, and the area of delamination linearly increases as impact energy increases. The performance of impact damaged antenna was estimated by measuring return loss and radiation pattern. It was revealed that the performance of antenna was related to the impact damage and there was a threshold that the performance of antenna fell as impact energy level changed. The threshold was between the impact energies of 1.5J and 1.75J.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2017

Many composite materials are used in the aerospace industry because of their excellent mechanical properties. However, the nature of aviation exposes these materials to high temperature and high moisture conditions depending on climate, location, and altitude. Therefore, the molecular arrangement chemical properties, and mechanical properties of composite materials can be changed under these conditions. As a result, surface disruptions and cracks can be created. Consequently, moisture-impregnating defects can be induced due to the crack and delamination of composite materials as they are repeatedly exposed to moisture absorption moisture release, fatigue environment, temperature changes, and fluid pressure changes. This study evaluates the possibility of detecting the moisture-impregnating defects of CFRP and GFRP honeycomb structure sandwich composite materials, which are the composite materials in the aircraft structure, by using an active infrared thermography technology among non-destructive testing methods. In all experiments, it was possible to distinguish the area and a number of CFRP composite materials more clearly than those of GFRP composite material. The highest detection rate was observed in the heating duration of 50 mHz and the low detection rate was at the heating duration of over 500 mHz. The reflection method showed a higher detection rate than the transmission method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.5
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• pp.611-622
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• 2021

Composite material-due to low density-causes weight savings, which results in lower fuel consumption of transport vehicles. The aim of the research was to change the existing base-plate of the aluminum airplane container with the composite sandwich plate in order to reduce the weight of the containers of cargo aircrafts. The newly constructed sandwich plate consists of aluminum honeycomb core and composite face-sheets. The face-sheets consist of glass or carbon or hybrid fiber layers. The orientations of the fibers in the face-sheets were 0°, 90° and ±45°. Multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich plates. Based on the design aim, the importance of the objective functions (weight and cost of sandwich plates) was the same (50%). During the optimization nine design constraints were considered: stiffness, deflection, facing stress, core shear stress, skin stress, plate buckling, shear crimping, skin wrinkling, intracell buckling. The design variables were core thickness and number of layers of the face-sheets. During the optimization both the Weighted Normalized Method of the Excel Solver and the Genetic Algorithm Solver of Matlab software were applied. The mechanical properties of composite face-sheets were calculated by Laminator software according to the Classical Lamination Plate Theory and Tsai-Hill failure criteria. The main added-value of the study is that the multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich structures. It was confirmed that the optimal new composite sandwich construction-due to weight savings and lower fuel consumption of cargo aircrafts - is more advantageous than conventional all-aluminum container.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2017

In this study, we measured the natural frequencies of aluminum honeycomb sandwich beams using digital image correlation technique. The vibration images were captured using two high speed digital cameras and the images were converted to displacements by the digital image correlation technique. Displacement data in time domain were tranformed to frequency domain data by fast Fourier transform software. To reduce noise invoked by random exitation, a spectrum averaging technique and Savitsky-Golay digital filter were adopted. A conventional vibration measurement using an accelerometer and a finite element analysis were performed to compare the results by high speed digital camera measurement method. In conclusion, new method using high speed digital cameras and digital image correlation technique can measure the vibration of beam structures and can be applied to bio-structures where sensors cannot be attached.