Evaluation of Kinematic Formulations for Viscoelastically Damped Sandwich Beam Modeling

For efficiently simulating static and dynamic behaviors of sandwich structures, an accurate kinematic model is essential. This study presents analytical and numerical evaluations of kinematics and theories proposed in the literature. Several types of assumed displacement fields are considered. This article compares and addresses the efficiency, the applicability, and the limits of classical models, higher order models (CLT, FSDT, and HSDT), and zig-zag theories. To achieve this, a comparative study with a finite element based solution free of any kinematic assumptions as well as a qualitative and quantitative assessment of displacement, stress fields, and modal parameters (natural frequency and loss factor) are conducted. The results are presented and discussed for several sandwich beam configurations where the faces and the cores are both isotropic. For these purposes, static (three-point bending test) and dynamic (free vibration) problems are considered.