Dynamic response of slender multilayer sandwich beams with metal foam cores subjected to low-velocity impact

Multilayer sandwich panel is a new potential lightweight structure in practical engineering applications. Dynamic response of fully clamped slender metal foam core multilayer sandwich beams struck by a low-velocity heavy mass is investigated. Based on the yield criteria for the multilayer metal sandwich cross-sections, analytical solutions and 'bounds' of analytical solutions for large deflection of the fully clamped slender sandwich beams are derived, in which interaction of bending and stretching induced by large deflections is considered. Numerical calculations are carried out and good agreement is achieved between the analytical solutions and numerical results. The dynamic solution approaches the quasi-static one when the mass ratio of the striker to the beam is large enough. Using the analytical formulae, optimal design charts are constructed to minimize the mass of multilayer sandwich beams for a given low-velocity impact resistance. It is shown that the dynamic and quasi-static solutions can capture the low-velocity heavy-mass impact response of fully clamped slender multilayer sandwich beams. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.