Buckling Response of Metallic Foam Composite Sandwich Panels Subjected to Edgewise Compression

In present work, the critical buckling load of metallic foam composite sandwich panels is calculated by experimental, finite element methods (FEM) and theoretical analysis. The experimentally investigated is based on an edgewise compression test program to examine buckling failure and compressive properties. The metallic foam sandwich panels under edgewise compression tend to collapse in overall buckling mode. The most important factor that determines the overall buckling load of a sandwich panel under edgewise compression is the shear properties the metallic foam core. The sandwich beam theory and the FE model are developed for prediction of the buckling load of metallic foam sandwich structure. In despite of some differences existed among experimental data, FE and theoretical results, considering the existence of initial defects in sandwich structures which can’t be calculated in FE model and theory anlysis, the differences are in the reasonable range. The FE program developed in this paper can effectively be used to simulation of edgewise compression response for metallic foam composite sandwich structures. Theoretical and FE model results are in agreement with experimental result.