Approximate analysis of progressive deformation in honeycomb structures subjected to in-plane loading

Progressive deformation of honeycomb structures subjected to in-plane loading was approximately analyzed by using the collapse modes of hexagonal unit cells. The collapse modes were categorized as freely compressive, restricted compressive, and shear. Moreover, there were five characteristic deformation patterns, namely deformation bands. Average stresses of the collapsing honeycomb models were evaluated in terms of the plastic collapse stress per hinge and total number of hinges of progressively arising deformation bands. The displacements of the models were obtained by multiplying the displacement per cell with the number of collapsed cells. The present method was used to analyze progressive deformation of typical honeycomb structures. The validity of the stress–displacement relations derived for some structures was confirmed by comparing them with finite element method (FEM) results. Our method is much simpler than FEM but just as effective.