Effect of Core Plasticity on the Post-Buckling Behavior of Debonded Sandwich Beams

Nonlinear finite element analysis was used to simulate compression tests on sandwich composites containing debonded face sheets. The core was modeled as an elastic-perfectly-plastic material, and the face-sheet as elastic isotropic. The effects of core plasticity, face-sheet and core thickness, and debond length on the maximum load the beam can carry were studied. The results indicate that the core plasticity is an important factor that determines the maximum load.