Experimental and numerical studies on the crush resistance of aluminum honeycombs with various cell configurations

• Aluminum honeycombs with various cell configurations are experimentally tested.
• Influence of cell number and central angle on the crush resistance is investigated.
• With adhesive considered, two FE models are adopted to simulate the crush process.
• The numerical and theoretical results compare very well with experiment data.
• The interaction effect between wall thickness and central angle is revealed.

Commercial aluminum honeycombs with various cell configurations are experimentally tested to study the influence of cell number and central angle on the out-of-plane crush resistance of the structures. The boundary effect is found to have significant impact on the crush strength of the structure when the number of cells is small and the central angle is observed to get a difference less than 10% in the strength of the honeycombs. Numerical analyses based on whole honeycomb model and Y-shaped element model are carried out to simulate the crush and deformation process of the specimens. The adhesive bonding of the double thickness foil is considered in the simulation and the numerical results show good agreement with the experimental data and theoretical predictions. Finally, the reason for the small influence of central angle on the out-of-plane strength of honeycombs is investigated and the interaction effect between wall thickness and central angle is believed to account for it.

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