Effect of Cell Geometry on the Shear Modulus and on Density of Sandwich Panel Cores

A simple analytic theory for the effect of cell geometry on both the shear modulus and the density of sandwich panel core is presented. The core shear modulus in different directions is analyzed to include the effects of the angle α and the aspect ratio b/a of the cell. It is also found that the minimum cell weight of the sandwich core depends both on the cell angle α and the cell aspect ratio b/a. The theory compares fairly well with some available experiments. The cell geometry chosen is so general that the regular hexagonal and square cells of commercial sandwich cores are special cases.