Free flexural vibration of thin-walled honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shells

The free flexural vibration of thin-walled honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shell was investigated by experiments and Flügge's shell theory simulations. The natural frequencies were measured and compared with simulations three-dimensional model. In the simulation analysis, the porous honeycomb core is simplified as a homogeneous orthotropic material, and its equivalent material properties are determined by the corrected Gibson's formula. Flügge's shell theory is compared with experimental results and finite element method calculation results, and the maximum relative error is only 4.749%.The comparison results show that Flügge's shell theory can accurately calculate the natural frequency of the thin honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shell. •Free vibration of honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shell was investigated by experiments and theory simulations.•The natural frequency of the honeycomb sandwich cylindrical shell is studied experimentally.•The influence of structural parameters on the free flexural vibration is discussed.