Dynamic crushing performance of bio-inspired sandwich structures with beetle forewing cores

A novel design of Sandwich Structure inspired by Beetle Forewing (SSBF) is proposed in this study by mimicking the internal structure of beetle forewing. The viscoelastic material and the arch shape of hollow cavity structures found inside the forewing structure of the beetle are imitated by utilising the shear thickening fluid (STF) and semi-arch cores, respectively. The coupling interaction between fluid and structural components is analysed using a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) technique in LS-DYNA. It is found that the proposed SSBF by partially filling the core with STF generates a higher mean crushing force and stabilises the crushing force-displacement profile without a noticeably high initial peak crushing force as compared with the empty, polyurethane (PU) foam-filled, or Newtonian viscous fluid-filled counterparts. Furthermore, this stable crushing force of SSBF enhances with the increase of crushing speed, showing ideal behaviour for energy absorption and crushing resistance for the adaptation to the design of structures to resist impact loads.