Analytical and experimental study on honeycomb sandwich plates reinforced by ring beam of satellites

Abstract The equivalent parameters of hexagon aluminum honeycombs are work out with the theories of sandwich plates in this paper. The honeycomb sandwich plate reinforced by ring beam applied with static load is simulated by the finite element model of honeycomb sandwich plates, which is validated by static test. The research results show that the numerical calculation error of the honeycomb sandwich plate is less than 10% compared with test results, which is acceptable for an engineering project, and the mechanical behavior of the honeycomb sandwich plate can be described in detail. Thus, the method of equivalent honeycomb parameter is proved to be effective for the design and analysis of honeycomb sandwich plates. The influence of equivalent elasticity modulus and equivalent shear modulus to honeycomb sandwich plates can be reflected exactly from the results which are figured out with the equivalent theories of sandwich plates. The assembly clearance and assembly accuracy have a significant influence to the test results of honeycomb sandwich plates, which is obvious especially at a lower load level.