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In this work the mechanical behaviour of a core reinforced composite sandwich structure is studied. The sandwich employs a Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) orthotropic material for both the two external skins and the inner core web. In particular, the core is designed in order to cooperate with the GRP skins in membrane and flexural properties by means of the addition of a corrugated laminate into the foam core. An analytical model has been developed to replace a unit cell of this structure with an orthotropic equivalent thick plate that reproduces the in plane and out of plane behaviour of the original geometry. Different validation procedures have been implemented to verify the quality of the proposed method. At first a comparison has been performed between the analytical model and the original unit cell modelled with a Finite Element mesh. Elementary loading conditions are reproduced and results are compared. Once the reliability of the analytical model was assessed, this homogenised model was implemented within the formulation of a shell finite element. The goal of this step is to simplify the FE analysis of complex structures made of corrugated core sandwiches; in fact, by using the homogenised element, the global response of a real structure can be investigated only with the discretization of its mid-surface. Advantages are mainly in terms of time to solution saving and CAD modelling simplification. Last step is then the comparison between this FE model and experiments made on sandwich beams and panels whose skins and corrugated cores are made of orthotropic cross-ply GRP laminates. Good agreement between experimental and numerical results confirms the validity of the proposed model.

The aim of this work is the analysis of the contact area in a knee prosthesis using two different approaches. In particular, the interface between the femoral component and the polyethylene insert has been studied both numerically and experimentally. The interest in studying the contact area is related to the fact that the wear of the polyethylene insert, due to the high contact pressures, represents one of the major causes of failure of the total knee prosthesis. The possibility to evaluate the contact area at different loads and mutual position between femur and tibia is, therefore, of fundamental importance to study the service life of a prosthesis and to improve its performance. The finite element numerical approach has required the acquisition, through reverse engineering, and CAD modelling of the prosthetic components. Then the FEM simulations have been developed considering two different load conditions. In order to compare the calculated data, the same load configurations have been used for experimental tests based on ultrasonic method. In this case, some preliminary tests were required to calibrate the system depending on the particular characteristics of materials, geometries and surface finish of the prosthesis. The results show a good correlation between the data obtained with the two different approaches and, consequently, a good level of reliability of the procedures developed for the numerical and experimental evaluation of the contact area. The numerical procedure can be used to determine the area for different angles and loads, but especially in the design phase. The ultrasonic technique can be used to validate the numerical data.