A theoretical study of plastic analysis of fully clamped geometrical asymmetric sandwich beams with a metal foam core

•Large deflections of geometrically asymmetrical sandwich beams are investigated.•The analytical model for combined local denting and overall bending is developed.•The analytical model captures experimental and numerical results reasonably.

In this paper, the plastic behavior of fully clamped geometrical asymmetric sandwich beams with a metal foam core is investigated. Analytical solutions are derived for the plastic behavior of a fully clamped geometrical asymmetric sandwich beam transversely loaded by a circular roller. The effects of local denting and core strength on the overall bending are considered in analysis. The analytical model captures experimental results reasonably. Additionally, numerical calculations are carried out and good agreement is achieved between the analytical solutions and numerical results. The effects of asymmetric factor and core strength on the structural response of the asymmetric sandwich beams are discussed in detail. It is demonstrated that the present analytical model can reasonably predict the behavior of the post-yield deformation of the geometrically asymmetric sandwich beams. The load-carrying capacity and energy absorption of the geometrically asymmetric sandwich structures may be overestimated if the effect of local denting is neglected in theoretical analysis.