Experimental Investigations on Stiffened and Web-core Sandwich Panels Made for Steel under Quasi-Static Penetration

Structural integrity analysis of ships in collisions and groundings requires a realistic idealization of environmental and operational conditions within computational models. In essence, the problems are solved as Fluid-Structure-Interaction problems in which structural mechanics has an important role by modeling the contact. The accuracy of structural predictions in as-built and as-operated structures can only be improved by properly understanding the phenomena present in full- and laboratory-scale. This paper investigates experimentally the modeling uncertainties with quasi-static experiments on single-sided stiffened and double-skinned steel sandwich panels. Results reveal the importance of uncertainties associated with the panels' boundary conditions on how they affect the roles of membrane and bending load-carrying mechanisms and loading, material, and structural gradients that affect the initiation of the final fracture.