Bending behavior of 2D periodic plates with different unit cells: Numerical and experimental investigations

In this study, the out-of-plane bending behavior of two-dimensional (2D) periodic plates is investigated using finite element (FE) simulations and experiments. The bending performance of 2D periodic plates is investigated through three-point bending tests. The investigations are designed to compare numerical and experimental results of the bending responses of plates with different unit-cell topologies. The size effect of unit cells on the plates' apparent stiffness is also investigated via convergence tests. Since 2D periodic plates consist of struts treated as beams, the FE models are constructed using beam elements. Comparisons of the numerical and experimental results show that the effect of the joint regions of the struts becomes significant as the plates' volume fractions increase. However, to save computational costs and time, the FE simulations with beam elements can be used to predict the bending behavior of the 2D periodic plates approximately. To validate the FE results in this study, the observed results of the plates' bending behavior are compared with findings obtained from the literature. Additionally, the bending performance of the 2D periodic plates, compared to their full-solid counterparts, is presented in terms of weight efficiency.