Numerical Analysis of Indentation in Sandwich Structures Based on Higher Order Theory; Differential Quadrature Method

One of the most important failure modes of sandwich structures is indentation. The first step to obtain the indentation in a sandwich beam is modeling the beam via an appropriate theory. In this paper, higher order theory for sandwich beams is used. This approach leads to a system of governing differential equations with several unknowns. The main purpose of this work is to obtain solution for the stated problem through a semi-analytical and a numerical solution. Although the former solution is semi-analytical, it contains limiting assumptions that are discussed. In order to overcome these limitations, a numerical solution based on differential quadrature method (DQM) is suggested and the results are compared with the semi-analytical solution.