Macroscopic response of carbon-fiber pyramidal truss core panel taking account of local defect

In present paper, the macroscopic responses of carbon-fiber pyramidal truss core panel subject to uniaxial compressive loading are investigated through experimental, theoretical and finite element analysis (FEA) methods, taking account of local defect. The local defect is introduced in the form of missing strut for the unit cell. A theoretical model is proposed to predict the effect of defect on the compressive stiffness and ultimate strength of pyramidal truss core sandwich panel. To study the buckling and crushing behavior, a progressive damage model based on the Hashin failure criteria is implemented in ABAQUS software by means of a user subroutine VUMAT. The sensitivity of sandwich panel to the percentage of missing struts, defect type, and defect spatial configuration are respectively discussed. Comparing with the open-cell foam and honeycombs, the pyramidal truss has better defect tolerant than bending dominated construction. Moreover, the effects of defect type and defect spatial configuration on the strength of pyramidal truss panel are significant under the same percentage of missing struts. The numerical results reveal that the discrepancy can be up to 14% and 29%, respectively. The local defect should be considered in the design and application of pyramidal truss structure.