5.4.5.

Sandwich Failure
5.4.5.1. Core failure
The Core Failure criterion predicts failure in core materials due to
interlaminar shear and normal stresses. The normal stresses are only
considered if they are enabled (see failure criterion definition). By default
the 3 stress component is inactive.
In the case 3 of inactive , the criterion has this form

(5127)

else

(5128)

(5129)

5.4.5.2. Face sheet wrinkling

Wrinkling of sandwich face sheets is a local instability phenomenon, in
which the face sheets can be modeled as plates on an elastic foundation
formed by the core. Simple formulas for estimating wrinkling stresses of
sandwich face sheets under uniaxial load have been presented, for
instance, in [21] and [31]. Linear elastic material behavior is assumed.
Possible interaction of the top and bottom face sheets is not considered.
In the following, , , and refer to a coordinate system in which the
-axis is in the direction of compression and the -axis is perpendicular to
the face sheets. The subscript F and C indicate the face sheet and the
core, respectively.
For sandwich laminates with homogeneous cores, the wrinkling stress of a
face sheet is

(5130)

where the theoretical value of the so-called wrinkling coefficient Q is

0.825. The effects of initial waviness and imperfections of the face sheet
are normally accounted for by replacing the theoretical value of the
wrinkling coefficient with a lower value. [21] and [31] recommend to use a
value Q = 0.5 as a safe design value for homogeneous cores.
The wrinkling stresses for sandwich laminates with honeycomb cores are
estimated with the expression

(5131)

The theoretical value of Q is 0.816, whereas a safe design value is Q =

0.33 [21] [31].
The prediction of wrinkling under multiaxial stress state is discussed in
[31]. When in-plane shear stresses exist, it is recommended that the
principal stresses are determined first. If the other of the two principal
stresses is tensile, it is ignored and the analysis is based on the equations
given above. When biaxial compression is applied, wrinkling can be
predicted with an interaction formula. The condition for wrinkling is

(5132)

where is "the direction of maximum compression" [31]. For orthotropic

sandwich face sheets, is more logically interpreted as the most critical of
the two directions. The wrinkling stresses ,w and ,w are computed from
the formulas for uniaxial compression by considering the compressive
stresses in the - and -directions independently.
The average face sheet stresses x, y, and xy are obtained from the layer
stresses of the face sheets. The following procedure for the computation of
reserve factors is then used independently for the top and bottom face
sheets.
If the shear stress xy of the face sheet is zero, the normal stresses x and
y are used directly in the prediction of wrinkling. Otherwise, the principal
stresses are determined first:

(5133)

The orientation of the normalized principal stresses with respect to the xycoordinate system is

(5134)

(5135)

(5136)

(5137)

where

(5137)

(5137)