Spring-in of angled sandwich panels

This paper presents a simple analytical model for the prediction of thermo-elastic deformation (spring-in) of angled composite sandwich panels. The development of the model is presented and the simplifying assumptions are clearly defined. Contributions from different mechanisms are clearly shown which gives a good understanding of the problem. The analytical model is validated against a finite element model and the validity of the simplifying assumptions is examined. The agreement between predicted spring-in from the analytical model and the finite element model is very good for the studied sandwich panels with composite skins and varying core materials. The difference in spring-in predictions is less than 0.05° for all cases studied. The simplicity of the model together with the limited number of input parameters makes it a practical tool for composite manufacturing engineers and designers.