Nonlinear dynamic response of a sandwich plate with negative Poisson’s ratio honeycomb-core layer under low-velocity collision impact

In this paper, a nonlinear analytical model is presented for the low-velocity collision impact of a sandwich plate with auxetic honeycomb-core layer. The auxetic feature of the honeycomb material is realized by mathematically expressing the effective material coefficients in terms of material property and cellular geometric parameters through a homogenization method. The higher order shear deformation theory, the von Kármán nonlinearity theory, and a modified Hertz contact law which accounts for the contact pressure distribution and indentation effect, are employed to establish the kinematic relations. The Newmark time integration scheme in conjunction with the direct iterative method is utilized to establish a solution procedure for the nonlinear dynamic governing equation. The verification of the presented model with the data in published literatures is carried out, followed by a series of numerical analyses for influences of cellular geometric features and impactor’s initial conditions (such as impactor’s initial velocity, mass, and nose curvature radius) on the nonlinear dynamic response. The results of numerical analyses show that the geometric features of the unit cell in the honeycomb-core and impactor’s initial conditions can cause significant influences on the nonlinear collision impact behaviors of the system.