Fluid based sandwich panel core structure for blast load mitigation

Area of Science:

• Structural Engineering
• Materials Science
• Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Structural integrity against blast loads is a critical concern.
• Optimizing sandwich panel design is key for blast mitigation.
• Understanding fluid-structure interactions is vital for advanced protective structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the blast mitigation effectiveness of tubular sandwich panels with water-filled cores.
• To analyze the influence of face sheet thickness, core spacing, and fluid proportion on blast resistance.
• To evaluate the impact of water as a core filler on panel response metrics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized finite element analysis (FEA) for numerical simulations.
• Conducted 27 distinct numerical experiments with varying panel configurations.
• Analyzed key performance indicators: elastic strain energy, external work, and panel displacement.

Main Results:

• Water-filled cores demonstrated superior blast resistance compared to non-fluid cores.
• Completely filled cores resulted in the lowest panel displacement and external work.
• Half-filled cores exhibited the highest elastic strain energy, indicating significant energy absorption.

Conclusions:

• Water-filled tubular sandwich panels offer enhanced blast mitigation capabilities.
• Panel displacement and external work are primarily influenced by plate thickness.
• Elastic strain energy is most significantly affected by the fluid volume fraction within the core.
• Findings provide insights for optimizing blast-resistant structural designs through fluid-structure interaction principles.