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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to show an accurate method to predict thermal deformations of honeycomb sandwich panels having composite skins. First of all, some problems of the conventional method using the laminate theory are pointed out. In order to develop an effective predicting method, a model on detailed structure of a unit cell for sandwich panels is developed utilizing the 3D finite element method. A periodic boundary condition is introduced to the model to represent the repetitive structures of the sandwich panel. The effective elastic modulus of the cell foil is obtained from the result of an out-of-plane compressive test on the honeycomb core. The adhesives between skin and core is modeled by considering its shape and quantity. The difference between the CTE according to this model and the actually measured one is approximately 0.1 × 10-6/K. The paper further attempts to explain the anisotropic character of the sandwich panel. The result of this analysis suggests that the direction-dependency of the CTE is underestimated with the fact that the effective elastic modulus at a portion where a ribbon is bonded with another one is different from the effective elastic modulus at a portion where the ribbon is on its own.