Arno Zürbes

Shear stresses in honeycomb sandwich plates: Analytical solution, finite element method and experimental verification

Honeycomb composite structures are used in airplanes, railway cars and vehicles. The sandwich panels consist of two stiff face sheets of aluminium, which are bonded to a very lightweight honeycomb core of aluminium. Compared to normal plates, sandwich panels have a very high stiffness and simultaneously a low weight. The core of these structures is mainly subjected to shear stresses. The shear stresses depend strongly on the angle of the load application. The distribution and the level of the shear stresses are investigated using analytical calculations. The load direction which induces highest stresses in the honeycomb core is derived. This direction is not the W-direction, which is the most compliant one. When doing finite element simulations of honeycomb cores, often the core is homogenized in order to reduce the calculation time. In this article, some equations are derived in order to calculate the real shear stresses from the shear stresses of the homogeneous core. The equations are validated by finite element simulations and partially by tests. Three-point bending tests and additionally some Food Cart Roller Tests were conducted in order to test the panels in different angles.

Fatigue in the core of aluminum honeycomb panels: Lifetime prediction compared with fatigue tests:

In comparison to their weight, honeycomb composite structures have a high bending stiffness, which makes them very suited for every application such as airplanes, railway-cars and vehicles, where little weight is important. The sandwich panels consist of two thin and stiff aluminum face sheets, which are bonded to a thick and lightweight aluminum honeycomb core. These structures are subjected to dynamic loading. However, in the literature, there are hardly any fatigue properties of the honeycomb core described. The fatigue properties of the core are investigated using the finite element method and experiments. Depending on the load application, the honeycomb core fails either through core indentation or shear failure. For a fatigue prediction, both failure modes have to be investigated. Additionally, the physical behavior of the honeycomb core is depending on the orientation of the core. Hence, fatigue tests were conducted in three directions of the core: the stiffest direction, the most compliant direction and the direction with the highest stresses. A three-point bending test setup was built to study the fatigue properties of the honeycomb core. Several fatigue tests were carried out with a load ratio of R = 0.1 (maximum load 10 times bigger than minimum load) and the fatigue diagrams being illustrated. Additionally, food-cart roller tests (wheels of a cart rolling in a circle on a floor panel) were done to dynamically test the panels in every angle. The sandwich structures were modeled with the ANSYS finite element software. The simulations, which were used to determine the stress amplitudes in the specimens, are described later. In addition, buckling analyses were used to examine core indentation failure. Based on these simulations, failure predictions can be made. The fatigue life of the examined specimens is successfully approximated in this manuscript, with the lifetime analysis being based on the FKM guideline (error less than 14% in load amplitude).

Design, Repeatability, and Comparison to Literature Data of a New Noninvasive Device Called “Rotameter” to Measure Rotational Knee Laxity

The present paper deals with the design, the repeatability, and the comparison to literature data of a new measuring device called “Rotameter” to characterize the rotational knee laxity or the tibia-femoral rotation (TFR). The initial prototype P1 of the Rotameter is shortly introduced and then modified according to trials carried out on a prosthetic leg and on five healthy volunteers, leading therefore to an improved prototype P2. A comparison of results obtained from P1 and P2 with the same male subject shows the enhancements of P2. Intertester and intratester repeatability of this new device were shown and it was observed that rotational laxities of left and right knees are the same for a healthy subject. Moreover, a literature review showed that measurements with P2 presented lower TFR values than other noninvasive devices. The measured TFR versus torque characteristic was quite similar to other invasive devices, which are more difficult to use and harmful to the patient. Hence, our prototype P2 proved to be an easy-to-use and suitable device for quantifying rotational knee laxity. A forthcoming study will validate the Rotameter thanks to an approach based on computed tomography in order to evaluate its precision.

Use of a Computed Tomography Based Approach to Validate Noninvasive Devices to Measure Rotational Knee Laxity

The purpose of this study is to validate a noninvasive rotational knee laxity measuring device called “Rotameter P2” with an approach based on Computed Tomography (CT). This CT-approach using X-rays is hence invasive and can be regarded as a precise reference method that may also be applied to similar devices. An error due to imperfect femur fixation was observed but can be neglected for small torques. The most significant estimation error is due to the unavoidable soft tissues rotation and hence flexibility in the measurement chain. The error increases with the applied torque. The assessment showed that the rotational knee angle measured with the Rotameter is still overestimated because of thigh and femur displacement, soft tissues deformation, and measurement artefacts adding up to a maximum of 285% error at +15 Nm for the Internal Rotation of female volunteers. This may be questioned if such noninvasive devices for measuring the Tibia-Femoral Rotation (TFR) can help diagnosing knee pathologies and investigate ligament reconstructive surgery.

Acoustics During the Vibratory Pile Driving of Sheet Piles: Measurement Conditions and Key Parameters of the Noise Generation

This paper studies the sound generation during the vibratory pile driving of double sheet piles for different cross-sections with the aims to give guidelines how to make high-quality acoustic measurements and to find the key parameters of this noise generation. These objectives are reached by studying the assumed hypotheses when performing the acoustic measurements and by using a beamforming system; details about the vibratory pile driving are also given to obtain reproducible and representative measurements. The experiment results confirm some previously presented hypotheses and show two key parameters involved in the sound generation: the space between the welds of the common interlock of a double sheet pile and the wall height above the soil of a neighbouring wall.

Schwingfestigkeit von Leichtbauplatten mit Wabenkernstruktur.

Kurzfassung Leichtbauplatten mit Deckschichten aus Aluminium und Aluminiumwabenkern wurden in zyklischen Vierpunktbiegeversuchen getestet. Dabei wurden in Folge konstanter und variabler Lastamplituden Wöhler- und Gaßnerlinien ermittelt. Die Versuche erfolgten mit zwei verschiedenen Plattenkonfigurationen, wobei der Unterschied in der Orientierung des Wabenkerns lag. Als Versagensbild waren lediglich Risse im Deckblech im Bereich reiner Biegung zu beobachten. Um eine rechnerische Vorhersage der Lebensdauer von Bauteilen zu ermöglichen, wurde ein Finite-Elemente-Modell mit homogenisiertem Wabenkern entwickelt. Unter Zuhilfenahme der aus den Vierpunktbiegeversuchen ermittelten Wöhler- und Gaßnerlinien können mit diesem FE-Modell Lebensdauern berechnet werden, wobei zunächst eine Aussage bzgl. der Deckbleche möglich ist.