Sandwich plates: Stresses, deflection, buckling and wrinkling loads - A case study

This article deals with the linear static and buckling analysis of an asymmetric square sandwich plate with orthotropic stiffness properties in the face layers. Two analytical formulations related to thin and thick face layers, respectively, have been taken from (Zenkert, D. (1995). An Introduction to Sandwich Construction, Chameleon Press Ltd, London, UK (ISBN 0 947817 77 8)), slightly modified to account for unequal faces, orthotropic properties in the face layers, and individual Poisson's ratios, and applied to square sandwich plates of I m lateral dimension and a variety of different face layer thickness. All cases assume simply supported edges. The obtained deflections and buckling loads are compared with the results of a 3D analysis (Meyer-Piening, H.-R. (2004). Application of the Elasticity Solution to Linear Sandwich Beam, Plate and Shell Analyses, J. of Sandwich Structures & Materials, 6(4): 295-312) and of finite element calculations. The objectives of this study are to gain insight into the limits of validity of the published formulas in view of unequal thick face layers and orthotropic properties. The obtained results are meant to serve as a benchmark for further studies.