Finite element model updating of honeycomb sandwich plates using a response surface model and global optimization technique

Honeycomb sandwich plates are used widely in the aerospace industry. Building accurate finite element models of honeycomb sandwich plates is necessary for analyzing and optimizing the microvibration that occurs in spacecraft. This study investigated two types of finite element dynamic models of honeycomb plates: a sandwich shell model and a shell-volume-shell model. Two response surface model-based optimization methods and a particle swarm optimization method were compared for updating the finite element models. Finally, we validated the accuracy of the two optimized honeycomb sandwich plate finite element dynamic models by comparing the results obtained by the frequency response functions with experimental data.