Numerical modeling of Nomex honeycomb core composite plates at meso scale level

Honeycomb core composite plates are becoming more important in the construction of primary aerospace structures. Nowadays, these types of materials are used for construction of fuselage skins, central and outer wing boxes, engine tail cones, landing gear doors, command surfaces like spoilers and ailerons etc. To determine the stress strain field in loaded honeycomb plates elastic coefficients are required. In the present work, a method for determining all required elastic coefficients for the core and plates is presented. Using experimentally obtained values for Nomex paper (type 410) and phenolic resin material model is presented and FEA model of composite plate with honeycomb core is created and three point bend test is simulated. Numerically obtained stress and strain values are compared to the experiment. Good agreement between proposed material model and experimentally obtained values is observed.