Performance enhancement of sandwich panels with honeycomb–corrugation hybrid core

The concept of combining metallic honeycomb with folded thin metallic sheets （corrugation） to construct a novel core type for lightweight sandwich structures is proposed. The honeycomb-corrugation hybrid core is manufactured by filling the interstices of aluminum corrugations with precision-cut trapezoidal aluminum honeycomb blocks, bonded together using epoxy glue. The performance of such hybrid-cored sandwich panels subjected to out-of-plane compression, transverse shear, and three-point bending is investigated, both experimentally and numerically. The strength and energy absorption of the sandwich are dramatically enhanced, compared to those of a sandwich with either empty corrugation or honeycomb core. The enhancement is induced by the beneficial interaction effects of honeycomb blocks and folded panels on improved buckling resistance as well as altered crushing modes at large plastic deformation. The present approach provides an effective method to further improve the mechanical properties of conventional honeycomb-cored sandwich constructions with low relative densities.

A three-layer structure model for the effect of a soft middle layer on Love waves propagating in layered piezoelectric systems

A three-layer structure model is proposed for investigating the effect of a soft elastic middle layer on the propagation behavior of Love waves in piezoelectric layered systems, with ＂soft＂ implying that the bulk-shear-wave velocity of the middle layer is smaller than that of the upper sensitive layer. Dispersion equations are obtained for unelectroded and traction-free upper surfaces which, in the limit, can be reduced to those for classical Love waves. Systematic parametric studies are subsequently carried out to quantify the effects of the soft middle layer upon Love wave propagation, including its thickness, mass density, dielectric constant and elastic coefficient. It is demonstrated that whilst the thickness and elastic coefficient of the middle layer affect significantly Love wave propagation, its mass density and dielectric constant have negligible influence. On condition that both the thickness and elastic coefficient of the middle layer are vanishingly small so that it degenerates into an imperfectly bonded interface, the three-layer model is also employed to investigate the influence of imperfect interfaces on Love waves propagating in piezoelectric layer/elastic sub- strate systems. Upon comparing with the predictions ob- tained by employing the traditional shear-lag model, the present three-layer structure model is found to be more ac- curate as it avoids the unrealistic displacement discontinuity across imperfectly bonded interfaces assumed by the shearlag model, especially for long waves when the piezoelectric layer is relatively thin.

Thermal stretching in two-phase porous media: Physical basis for Maxwell model

An alternate yet general form of the classical effective thermal conductivity model （Maxwell model） for two-phase porous materials is presented, serving an explicit thermo-physicM basis. It is demonstrated that the reduced effective thermal conductivity of the porous media due to non-conducting pore inclusions is caused by the mechanism of thermal stretching, which is a combi- nation of reduced effective heat flow area and elongated heat transfer distance （thermal tortuosity）.

The Existence of Simultaneous Bragg and Locally Resonant Band Gaps in Composite Phononic Crystal

The band structure and transmission coefficient of the two-dimensional ternary locally resonant phononic crystal are computed by the finite element method with the calculated frequency up to 120 kHz.The band gap in the high frequency range is found and considered as the Bragg band gap in the locally resonant phononic crystal which has the locally resonant band gap in the low frequency range normally.Then,a composite phononic crystal by hybridizing the Bragg scattering phononic crystal and the locally resonant phononic crystal is proposed.Simultaneous Bragg and locally resonant band gaps are displayed and discussed for the composite phononic crystal.The results show that the simultaneous Bragg band gap and locally resonant band gap can be tuned.

Effective thermal conductivity of wire-woven bulk Kagome sandwich panels

Thermal transport in a highly porous metallic wire-woven bulk Kagome （WBK） is numerically and analytically modeled. Based on topology similarity and upon introducing an elongation parameter in thermal tortuosity, an idealized Kagome with non-twisted struts is employed. Special focus is placed upon quanti- fying the effect of topological anisotropy of WBK upon its effective conductivity. It is demonstrated that the effective conductivity reduces linearly as the poros- ity increases, and the extent of the reduction is significantly dependent on the orientation of WBK. The governing physical mechanism of anisotropic thermal transport in WBK is found to be the anisotropic thermal tortuosity caused by the intrinsic anisotropic topology of WBK.

Dynamic flow resistivity based model for sound absorption of multi-layer sintered fibrous metals

The sound absorbing performance of the sintered fibrous metallic materials is investigated by employing a dynamic flow resistivity based model,in which the porous material is modeled as randomly distributed parallel fibers specified by two basic physical parameters:fiber diameter and porosity.A self-consistent Brinkman approach is applied to the calculation of the dynamic resistivity of flow perpendicular to the cylindrical fibers.Based on the solved flow resistivity,the sound absorption of single layer fibrous material can be obtained by adopting the available empirical equations.Moreover,the recursion formulas of surface impedance are applied to the calculation of the sound absorption coefficient of multi-layer fibrous materials.Experimental measurements are conducted to validate the proposed model,with good agreement achieved between model predictions and tested data.Numerical calculations with the proposed model are subsequently performed to quantify the influences of fiber diameter,porosity and backed air gap on sound absorption of uniform(single-layer)fibrous materials.Results show that the sound absorption increases with porosity at higher frequencies but decreases with porosity at lower frequencies.The sound absorption also decreases with fiber diameter at higher frequencies but increases at lower frequencies.The sound absorption resonance is shifted to lower frequencies with air gap.For multi-layer fibrous materials,gradient distributions of both fiber diameter and porosity are introduced and their effects on sound absorption are assessed.It is found that increasing the porosity and fiber diameter variation improves sound absorption in the low frequency range.The model provides the possibility to tailor the sound absorption capability of the sintered fibrous materials by optimizing the gradient distributions of key physical parameters.

A UNIVERSAL CRACK EXTENSION CRITERION BASED ON THE EQUIVALENT STRESS GRADIENT:I.THEORY AND NUMERICAL VERIFICATION

In this contribution,the microscopic fracture mechanism and extension criterion for mixed type crack in ductile material under plane mixed mode loading are investigated in details.A universal extension criterion for the mixed type crack,i.e.the crack propagates along the direction of the maximum gradient of equivalent stress,is suggested.This new criterion is used to predict the propagation direction of mixed type crack,showing a good agreement with other theories for different types of mode mixity.Moreover,the numerical verification is also carried out for the case of an edge crack with different mixed mode loadings.Finally,a potential application to three-dimensional fracture in the ductile material induced by holes is also discussed.

MODELING CONTACTS OF IONIC POLYMER METAL COMPOSITES BASED TACTILE SENSORS

We report the first attempt to model the contacts of an ionic polymer metal composite（IPMC） based tactile sensor. The tactile sensor comprises an IPMC actuator, an IPMC sensor and the target to be detected. The system makes use of multiple contacts to work： the actuator comes into contact with the sensor and pushes the movement of sensor; the contact between the sensor and the object detects the existence and the stiffness of the target. We integrate modeling of various physical processes involved in IPMC devices to form a simulation scheme. An iteration and optimization strategy is also described to correlate the experimental and simulation results of an IPMC bending actuator to identify the two key parameters used in electromechanical transduction. Modeling the multiple contacts will aid the design and optimization of such IPMC based soft robotics.

Sound radiation of parallelly stiffened plates under convected harmonic pressure excitation

The radiation of noise from a parallelly rib-stiffened skin plate of aircraft cabin fuselage in the presence of external mean flow is theoretically investigated.An aero-acoustic-elastic model is developed and used to calculate the radiated sound pressure level(SPL) versus frequency curves with reference to sound radiation of a bare plate immersed in a steady fluid.The flexural and rotational motions of the rib stiffeners are described by applying the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and torsional wave equation,respectively.Therefore,the coupling forces and moments between the ribs and the face-panel,caused separately by flexural and rotational motion of the ribs,are both taken into account.Given the periodicity of the structure,the Fourier transform technique is employed to solve panel vibration equations and acoustic equations.Systematic parametric investigation demonstrates that the presence of mean flow as well as rib spacings play significant roles in the sound radiation behavior of parallelly rib-stiffened plates.The proposed model provides a convenient and efficient tool for the factual engineering design of this kind of periodic structures with acoustic requirements.