Realistic Fe Simulation of Foldcore Sandwich Structures

Background Foldcore is an origami-like structural sandwich core which is manufactured by folding a planar base material into a three dimensional structure. The manufacturing technology is open to a variety of base materials and also a range of unit cell geometries is feasible. This results in a wide spectrum of mechanical properties which can be achieved by foldcores. Methods Mechanical characterisation of foldcores by testing is therefore costly. So FE simulation is required to reduce testing effort. A modelling method for foldcores which allows realistic simulation is developed and presented within this paper. Results The modelling method is validated by comparison with experiments. The test cases are compression tests and shear tests. Stiffness and strength is evaluated from experiment and simulation. Comparison shows very good correlation. Conclusions The presented method is able to simulate the mechanical properties of foldcores and is therefore a valuable tool for further product development.