Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The effect of initial waviness on the wrinkling of faces in sandwich construction is studied. Formulae are derived to determine the failing stress when the faces wrinkle due to failure of the core in tension, compression or shear. The importance of core strength requirements in maintaining surface smoothness is noted. A comparison of theory with experiments is made, and the agreement between the two is found to be reasonably good.
A sandwich construction consists of two thin face layers of high-strength material and a thick core layer of lightweight material. The function of the core is twofold. Firstly, it increases the bending rigidity of the faces and second, it stabilises them so that they will not wrinkle until high stress is reached.