Engineering method for prediction of impact response and damage in sandwich panels

An engineering method is suggested for prediction of impact response and damage of flat sandwich panels. The approach accounts for local core crushing, delamination and large face sheet deflections and does not rely on empirical indentation laws. Different models are suggested depending upon the impactor mass being either larger or significantly smaller than the mass of the impacted panel. The solution for large mass impact is based on closed form expressions. The solution for small mass impact is obtained from a dimensionless two-parameter integral equation. The validity of the approach is demonstrated on a number of static indentation experiments and impacts on sandwich panels.