Abstract
Lightweight composite sandwich structures are widely used in the automotive industry, particularly in vehicle body applications, due to their advantageous properties, e.g. low density, high stiffness and high strength-to-weight ratio. The goal of the research was the elaboration of an optimization method for a totally Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) sandwich structure in order to construct a minimal weight structure. The all-composite sandwich panel consists of a hexagonal FRP honeycomb core and laminated FRP face sheets. The article investigates the optimization of the FRP composite layers of the cell wall of the honeycomb core and the face sheets simultaneously. The Classical Lamination Theory (CLT) with analytical expressions was adopted to calculate the stiffness and strength of the sandwich components. The minimization of the total weight of the sandwich structure was the main goal during the structural optimization. Therefore, the design variables were the following: the orientation of the FRP layer for the cell wall of the core; furthermore the number and orientation of the face sheets’ layers. During the optimization, 5 design constraints which related to structure strength criteria were considered. I-sight software was used in conjunction with Excel software to perform the optimization process. Some of the feasible design points were numerically modelled using Abaqus Cae software and showed good agreement with the optimization result. The main added value of the research is the elaboration of the single weight optimization method for a totally FRP sandwich structure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Pan, S.D., Wu, L.Z., Sun, Y.G., Zhou, Z.G., Qu, J.L.: Longitudinal shear strength and failure process of honeycomb cores. Compos. Struct. 72, 42–46 (2006)
Jármai, K.: Newer manufacturing technologies and their costs in automotive structures, a review. Lect. Notes Mech. Eng. 22, 478–485 (2021)
Sun, Z., Li, D., Zhang, W., Shi, S., Guo, X.: Topological optimization of biomimetic sandwich structures with hybrid core and CFRP face sheets. Compos. Sci. Technol. 142, 79–90 (2017)
Zhang, Q., et al.: Bioinspired engineering of honeycomb structure - using nature to inspire human innovation. Prog. Mater. Sci. 74, 332–400 (2015)
Banerjee, S., Battley, M., Bhattacharyya, D.: Shear strength optimization of reinforced honeycomb core materials. Mech. Adv. Mater. Struct. 17, 542–552 (2010)
Stocchi, A., Colabella, L., Cisilino, A., Álvarez, V.: Manufacturing and testing of a sandwich panel honeycomb core reinforced with natural-fiber fabrics. Mater. Des. 55, 394–403 (2014)
Compton, B.G., Lewis, J.A.: 3D-printing of lightweight cellular composites. Adv. Mater. 26, 5930–5935 (2014)
Sugiyama, K., Matsuzaki, R., Ueda, M., Todoroki, A., Hirano, Y.: 3D printing of composite sandwich structures using continuous carbon fiber and fiber tension. Compos. Part A Appl. Sci. Manuf. 113, 114–121 (2018)
Vitale, J.P., Francucci, G., Xiong, J., Stocchi, A.: Failure mode maps of natural and synthetic fiber reinforced composite sandwich panels. Compos. Part A Appl. Sci. Manuf. 94, 217–225 (2017)
Wei, X., Wu, Q., Gao, Y., Xiong, J.: Bending characteristics of all-composite hexagon honeycomb sandwich beams: experimental tests and a three-dimensional failure mechanism map. Mech. Mater. 148, 103401 (2020)
Russell, B.P., Liu, T., Fleck, N.A., Deshpande, V.S.: Quasi-static three-point bending of carbon fiber sandwich beams with square honeycomb cores. J. Appl. Mech. Trans. 78, 1–16 (2011)
Xiong, J., Ma, L., Pan, S., Wu, L., Papadopoulos, J., Vaziri, A.: Shear and bending performance of carbon fiber composite sandwich panels with pyramidal truss cores. Acta Mater. 60, 1455–1466 (2012)
Szirbik, S., Virág, Z. Finite element analysis of an optimized hybrid stiffened plate. Matec Web Conf. 342, 1–6 (2021). ID: 06003
Kundrák, J., Varga, G., Nagy, A., Makkai, T.: Examination of 2D and 3D surface roughness parameters of face milled aluminium surfaces. Rez. I Instr. V Tekhnol. Sis. 88(1), 94–100 (2018)
Chun, L.: Stress distribution on composite honeycomb sandwich structure suffered from bending load. Procedia Eng. 99, 405–412 (2015)
Nian, Y., Wan, S., Li, M., Su, Q.: Crashworthiness design of self-similar graded honeycomb-filled composite circular structures. Constr. Build. Mater. 233, 117344 (2020)
Qin, R., Zhou, J., Chen, B.: Crashworthiness design and multiobjective optimization for hexagon honeycomb structure with functionally graded thickness. Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng. 2019, 1–13 (2019)
Wang, R., Wang, J.: Modeling of honeycombs with laminated composite cell walls. Compos. Struct. 184, 191–197 (2018)
Wei, X., Li, D., Xiong, J.: Fabrication and mechanical behaviors of an all-composite sandwich structure with a hexagon honeycomb core based on the tailor-folding approach. Compos. Sci. Technol. 184, 107878 (2019)
Aboudi, J., Arnold, S., Bednarcyk, B.: Micromechanics of Composite Materials, 2nd edn. CRC Press, London (2006)
Dababneh, O., Kipouros, T., Whidborne, J.F.: Application of an efficient gradient-based optimization strategy for aircraft wing structures. Aerospace 5, 1–27 (2018)
HexCel Composites: Honeycomb sandwich design technology. HexWeb Honeycomb Sandwich Design Technology, pp. 1–28 (2000)
Zenkert, D.: An Introduction to Sandwich Construction. Student Chamelon Press, Oxford, London (1995)
Barbero, E.J.: Finite Element Analysis of Composite Materials Using Abaqus TM, 2nd edn. CRC Press, London (2013)
Yuan, J., Zhang, L., Huo, Z.: An equivalent modeling method for honeycomb sandwich structure based on orthogonal anisotropic solid element. Int. J. Aeronaut. Sp. Sci. 21, 957–969 (2020)
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development, and Innovation Office - NKFIH under the project number K 134358.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sahib, M.M., Kovács, G., Szávai, S. (2023). Weight Optimization of All-Composite Sandwich Structures for Automotive Applications. In: Jármai, K., Cservenák, Á. (eds) Vehicle and Automotive Engineering 4. VAE 2022. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15211-5_60
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15211-5_60
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15210-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15211-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)