Damage initiation and fracture analysis of honeycomb core single cantilever beam sandwich specimens

Fracture testing and analysis of aerospace grade honeycomb core sandwich constructions using a single cantilever beam test methodology is presented here. Influence of various parameters such as facesheet thickness, core density, honeycomb cell-size, and core thickness were studied. A Winkler-based foundation model was used to calculate compliance and energy-release rate, and further compare with finite element model and experiments. A cohesive zone model was developed to predict the disbond initiation and simulate the interface crack propagation in the single cantilever beam sandwich specimen. The mode I interface fracture toughness obtained from the translating base single cantilever beam setup was provided as input in this cohesive zone model. It is shown that the presented cohesive zone approach is robust, and is able to capture the debonding phenomenon for majority of the honeycomb core specimens.