Indentation Resistance of Sandwich Beams Subjected to Localized Contact Loading

Sandwich construction is known to provide high stiffness to weight under contact loads. In this paper, a Modified Higher Order Theory is used to model the local deformation under the central indentor for sandwich beams loaded under three-point bending. ‘High-order’ refers to the non-linear variations of in-plane and vertical displacements through the height of the core which the model incorporates. Because of inaccuracy of results while modeling contact loads, an effective modification on the High-Order theory is made to improve the results to be more efficient in predicting the failure of the core in three-point bending. The solution then is verified using ABAQUS finite element package. The analytical solution is in good agreement with FE analysis.