Effect of Facesheet Thickness on Dynamic Response of Composite Sandwich Plates to Underwater Impulsive Loading

The response of sandwich structures to underwater blast loading is analyzed. The analysis focuses on the effect of varying structural attributes on energy dissipation and deformation. The structures analyzed are planar sandwich plates with polymer foam cores and fiber-reinforced polymer composite facesheets. The thickness of the facesheets is varied under the conditions of constant material properties and core dimensions. The fully three-dimensional finite-element simulations carried out account for underwater blast loading through the use of the Mie-Gruneisen equation-of-state of a linear Hugoniot form and a modified Drucker-Prager core crushing model. The impulse imparted to the panels is varied from 4 to 42 kPa·s. The results show that there exists an optimal thickness of the facesheets which maximizes energy absorption in the core and minimizes the overall deflection of the structure.