Localized indentation of sandwich beam with metallic foam core

The localized behavior of sandwich structures with foam core subjected to indentation loading is investigated in this article. Based on the principle of virtual velocities, concisely explicit solutions for the indentation forces and shape functions of deformation zones of sandwich beams are derived. Both flat and cylindrical indenters are considered. The indentation force varies linearly with the square root of indenter displacement and thesurface deformation profiles are proportional to the square of the distance from the contact center along the beam direction. Finite element models have been established using the ABAQUS/Explicit code to verify the validity and applicability of the analytical solutions. The theoretical predictions of the profiles of deformation zones and the denting loads of indenters are in good agreement with those by numerical simulation.