Numerical analysis on size effect of metal honeycomb sandwich structure in MTPS

Metal honeycomb sandwich structure is one of the major substructures in the reusable metal thermal protection system (MTPS). Optimizing the structural parameter is the most important step to improve the design level of MTPS. According to the modified Gibson formula and the principle of minimum complementary energy and minimum potential energy, equivalent elastic parameters of the honeycomb sandwich are given. Considering the comprehensive requirements of the whole structure weight and the maximum deflection value along the thickness, finite element numerical simulation is carried out to analyze the size effect of metal sandwich structure based on the orthogonal design method. The analytical results show that the most important structure parameters are as follows: the metal honeycomb height, the honeycomb ribbon thickness, the face sheet thickness, and the in-circle diameter of honeycomb.