Non-linear response of curved sandwich panels – extended high-order approach

•Extended High-Order Sandwich Panel Theory (EHSAPT) for Curved Panels.•Non-Polynomial High-Order Stress Resultants.•Wrinkling of Compressed Face sheets.•Stable Post-Buckling and General Non-Linear Response.

The geometrical non-linear behavior a curved sandwich panel with a stiff or compliant core when subjected to a pressure load using the Extended High-Order Sandwich Panel theory (EHSAPT), is presented. The formulation follows the EHSAPT procedure where the in-plane. i.e circumferential rigidity of the core is considered and the distribution of the displacements through the depth of the core are presumed. These displacement distributions are the closed-form solutions of the 2D governing equations of the curved core without circumferential rigidity that appear in the HSAPT curved sandwich panel model. The mathematical formulation includes the field equations along with the appropriate boundary and continuity conditions that take into account the high-order stress resultants in the core due to the presumed distributions. Finally a numerical study is conducted for a panel loaded by a distributed pressure at the upper face sheet. It reveals that the post-buckling response of a curved sandwich panels is associated with shallow to deep wrinkling deformations of the upper face sheet in the case of a simply-supported panel or a general non-linear pattern without wrinkles in the case of pinned supports with a short span. In both cases a stable post-buckling response is observed similar to that of a plate one.