Failure behavior of composite sandwich structures under local loading

Usually when analyzing the mechanical response of foam-cored fiber-reinforced composite sandwich structures to localized static loading, the face sheets are treated as a linear-elastic material and no damage initiation and growth is considered. However, practice shows that at higher indentation magnitudes damage develops in the face sheet in the area of contact with the indentor, which could lead to local failure of the face laminate due to the loss of bending stiffness and strength. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to develop a damage model for predicting the local failure in the composite face sheet and its influence on the load–displacement behavior of sandwich structures under local loading. For this purpose, the Hoffman failure criterion is incorporated into a finite element modeling procedure using the ABAQUS program system. Results deducted from the modeling procedure are compared with experimental data obtained in the case of static indentation tests performed on sandwich beam specimens using steel cylindrical indentors. It is shown that taking into account the damage in the face sheet leads to a substantial improvement in the performance of the model when simulating the mechanical behavior of the sandwich structures at higher indentation values.