Numerical Simulation and Experimental Research on Material Parameters Solution and Shape Control of Sandwich Panels with Aluminum Honeycomb

This paper aims to solve two problems of the sandwich panel with aluminum honeycomb: material parameters solution and shape control. The accurate material parameters of the sandwich panels are the basis of shape control. Therefore, a mixed numerical-experimental method is proposed to inversely solve equivalent material parameters of the sandwich panel using genetic algorithm (GA) in the first place. Then a high efficiency FE model based on equivalent material parameters is established to study shape control of the sandwich panels. For shape control, the key issue aims to search optimum position and adjustment volume of control points where actuators are installed. Toward the end, the FE simulation method is deployed to optimize actuator position and adjustment volume one by one. Finally, an active control platform based on multi-point adjustment is developed to verify the practicability of the approach proposed in this paper. Through the experiment of shape control, the root mean square (RMS) of surface deviation of sandwich panel is decreased from 62.7μm to 15.5μm. The results show that the shape control can significantly improve the surface accuracy of the sandwich panels, and the validity of equivalent material parameters is also proved from the side.