Investigation of the dynamic characteristics of an aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel using MSC Nastran

• Published in: AIP Conference Proceedings
• Main Author: Shah M.A.S.A.; Rani M.N.A.; Mirza W.I.I.W.I.; Yunus M.A.; Oktavc A.; Peter C.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Physics Inc. 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85141838696&doi=10.1063%2f5.0103297&partnerID=40&md5=6a10968462d10a7d148ce0149d0b36f7

Reducing structural weight while increasing modal frequencies is very challenging in structural dynamics. Honeycomb sandwich panels are widely used as alternative structural components to achieve the goal in engineering assembled structures. This research investigates the modal parameters of an aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel with an aluminium square-shaped design that is characteristically susceptible to closely-spaced modal frequencies. The FE model of the honeycomb sandwich panel was carefully developed, and MSC Nastran was used to compute the modal parameters of the FE model. The computed modal parameters were compared with the modal parameters obtained from the FE model of a square-shaped solid thick panel. The comparison showed that the honeycomb sandwich panel successfully eliminated the closely-spaced modal frequencies in the square-shaped solid thick panel with an average percentage MAC value of 0.91. Furthermore, the honeycomb sandwich panel computed higher modal natural frequencies with an average percentage discrepancy of 16.77 per cent. This study reveals that honeycomb sandwich panels offer many advantages in engineering designs, especially, modal frequency improvements, weight reductions and closely-spaced modal modes are the design parameters of concern © 2022 Author(s).