ANALYSIS OF LOCAL BENDING EFFECTS IN SANDWICH PLATES WITH ORTHOTROPICFACE LAYERS SUBJECTED TO LOCALIZED LOADS

This paper presents a method for the approximate analysis of local ben ding effects in sandwich plates with specially orthotropic face layers subjected to localised external loads. The local bending analysis is based on the assumption that the relative deflection of the loaded fac e against the deflection of the face not loaded can be modelled by app lication of an elastic foundation model. This is achieved by introduci ng a two-parameter elastic foundation model which takes into account t he shearing interaction effects between the loaded face and the core m aterial. An approximate solution to the complete problem is achieved b y superposition of the local solution and an overall solution derived by application of classical sandwich plate theory. The results obtaine d are compared with finite element analysis results, and a good match between the solutions is observed. Finally a brief parametric study sh ows that the local bending effects are strongly influenced by the modu lar ratio and the thickness of the loaded face.