RESEARCH PROJECT IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CHARACTERISATION OF POLYMER FOAM

PROPERTIES IN COMPOSITE SANDWICH
STRUCTURES USING FINITE ELEMENT METHODS
AND DIGITAL IMAGE CORRELATION

Oliver J Heycoop
Project Report ME37-2017

Co-worker: Christopher Lewis

Supervisor: Dr. Tom Allen

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of Auckland

29 September 2017
Abstract

Sandwich composite panels are commonly found high performance environments, such as the
hulls of yachts and crash structures of motor vehicles. They must be able to withstand high
energy absorption. A typical core used is a closed-cell polymeric foam. A lot of ongoing
investigation is being carried out on the behaviour of these foams through static and dynamic
experimental testing. However, there is very little knowledge on accurate mathematical
modelling methods. The following report discusses techniques used to characterise polymeric
foams using finite element methods, and the correlation to experimental data with the aid of
Digital Image Correlation.
A compression test was chosen to initially characterise polymer foams, as this is the simplest
way to understand foam behaviour at increasing strains. Experimental testing was undertaken
to find input data for mathematical models and was used to develop validation methods. The
foam was modelled both by itself and as a composite beam with fibreglass facesheets. This was
done to characterise the effects of facesheets on the core material. For simplicity to begin with,
a linear elastic model was used to model the elastic behaviour of the specimen, and a perfectly
plastic model used to measure the plastic behaviour. Following this a hyperfoam model was
used. Finally, the crushable foams model was used, and was chosen to characterise the various
foam cores of interest.
Digital Image Correlation was used to gain further insight into the strain variation through the
specimens both with and without facesheets. This exposed the largest difference between the
experimental and finite element data. Because the finite element method homogenises the
material the strain was shown to be constant throughout the thickness. Digital image correlation
data showed how the strain inconsistently evolves as compressive strain increases. It also
showed that there were pockets of relatively large strain compared to surrounding areas at
various points in the specimen.
The crushable foams model proved to give the most accurate results. This is because it
accounted for the porosity of the core material and the effects of collapsing and crushing cells
with increasing compressive strain. The results from DIC showed how there was large strain
variability within a sample. It also gave insight into how there was large strains at the boundary
between foam and a fixed solid object, and the crushing of these cells had a direct effect on the
strains seen in the surrounding area. It was found that the crushable foams model lacked an
accurate tensile model, and this is an improvement that should be accounted for in the future.