NONLINEAR CLOSED-FORM HIGH-ORDER ANALYSIS OF CURVED SANDWICH PANELS

Closed-form high-order theory of sandwich panel, including transverse flexibility and shear rigidity of a core, as well as geometrical nonli nearity of unsymmetric faces is generalized for sandwich panels of con stant curvature. Variational calculus is used to derive the set of gov erning equations describing a stress-deformation response of the panel to arbitrary loads. Boundary conditions are presented both in the loc al and global formulations. The procedure for the numerical solution o f the governing nonlinear differential equations is based on the finit e-difference method with deferred corrections. The solution technique is illustrated through numerical examples. Influence of the geometrica l nonlinearity on the overall behaviour of the sandwich panel and loca lized effects are demonstrated. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.