MODAL DENSITY OF COMPOSITE HONEYCOMB SANDWICH PANELS

Honeycomb sandwich panels with composite face sheets are widely used i n spacecraft applications. It is necessary to obtain the modal density of such panels to study their behaviour under acoustic excitation. Th e governing differential equation, with consideration of the shear fle xibility of the core, is derived. From this equation the expression fo r the modal density is derived. Experimental results for a typical pan el are also presented. These results match well with those obtained fr om theory. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited