Influence of reinforcement in the honeycomb structures under axial compressive load

An experimental and numerical simulation was carried out to know the axial compression behavior of the honeycomb structure. The cell wall thickness (0.11 mm, 0.22 mm and 0.33 mm) and node length (25 mm, 37.5 mm, 50 mm) were varied keeping the cell size constant, 20 mm. The variations in uni-axial stress and strain were obtained through uniaxial tension test. The experiments regarding crushing of honeycombs were conducted on compressive testing machine whereas numerical simulations were performed through commercially available finite element code Ls-Dyna. The peak load, mean crushing load and mechanics of failure were predicted and found to be close enough with the actual results. Moreover the influence of relative density on the crushing response of the honeycomb structure was studied by inserting a reinforcement sheet of the same material (AA1100-H12) and wall thickness (0.11, 0.22 and 0.33 mm) of the honeycomb in the honeycomb cell. The addition of reinforcement increased the relative density which resulted in significant increment in crushing strength.