Stress Distribution in Sandwich Beams in Uniform Bending

TLDR: In this paper, the three-dimensional elastic stress state in a sandwich beam in uniform bending was analyzed numerically through use of a finite-difference formulation of the exact equations of elasticity.

Abstract: The three-dimensional elastic stress state in a sandwich beam in uniform bending is given. The analysis is carried out numerically through use of a finite-difference formulation of the exact equations of elasticity. The beam is proportioned similar to one used in the characterization of composite materials and composed of [′45] s composite face sheets laminated to a typical honeycomb core. It is shown that interlaminar stresses are confined to boundary regions near the free edges and that the in-plane stresses converge to the laminate theory solutions in the interior of the beam despite the fact that the beam is deeper than it is wide. Importantly, the core/face sheet tractions are found to be insignificant.