Honeycombs are discrete materials at the macro scale level but their mechanical properties need to be calculated as a continuum material in order to simplify their design in engineering applications. The effective mechanical properties of honeycombs subjected to quasi-static loading were studied by analytical and numerical means and correlated with experimental results for aluminum honeycombs. In particular, the effective in-plane elastic moduli of honeycombs were studied as a function of their relative density and the full range for the relative density was divided into three regions. Beam models that account for bending, shear and axial deformations and finite element analyses (FEA) of the discrete structure composed of beam and two-dimensional solid elements were correlated with experiments of honeycombs with various relative densities for all regions. It was shown experimentally that the beam models describe well the material response in the direction of the double wall. However, it concludes that the behavior of honeycombs with high relative density can not be described by wall stretching as anticipated in previous reported studies.

Volume Subject Area:
Applied Mechanics
Topics:
Density, Elasticity, Honeycomb structures, Finite element analysis, Mechanical properties, Aluminum, Deformation, Design, Elastic moduli, Engineering systems and industry applications, Shear (Mechanics)
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