Experimental and numerical simulation of dynamic response of U-type corrugated sandwich panels under low-velocity impact

U-type corrugated sandwich panels exhibit excellent mechanical properties, and their application in the design of ship structures meets the requirements of the future development of ship and ocean engineering structures. In this study, the dynamic response of U-type corrugated sandwich panels under low-velocity impact using a drop-weight apparatus at the impact velocity of 4.43 m/s was measured and compared with finite element predictions. Moreover, the effect of impact velocity and location were evaluated. Both the experimental and simulation results indicated that the deformation modes of the front face were localized indentation, membrane stretching and wrinkle formation around the contact area between the front face and indenter, however the deformation modes of the corrugated cores were indentation and global bending. The dynamic responses of the sandwich panel determined through experiment and numerical simulation were consistent, revealing that the numerical simulation demonstrated reasonable accuracy. When the impact velocity increased from 2.8 to 4.85 m/s, the loading process and deformation modes of the sandwich panel were mainly influenced by the properties of the structure. The transverse impact resistance performance of the U-type corrugated sandwich panel was better than the longitudinal performance, owing to the higher number of core cells involved in deformation and energy absorption. •A low-velocity impact test using a large-scale sample is firstly conducted.•Deformation modes of the front face, core and back face are concluded.•The initial impact energy minimally influences the loading process.•The sandwich panel behaves better impacting in the transverse direction.