Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Bending deformation of honeycomb consisting of regular hexagonal cells

D.H. Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, Kagurazaka 1-3, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 14 August 2010
Keywords:
Honeycomb
Equivalent elastic modulus
Flexural rigidity
Torsion of plate
Elasticity

a b s t r a c t
In this study, the exural rigidity of a honeycomb consisting of regular hexagonal cells is investigated. It is
found that the bending deformation of the honeycomb cannot be evaluated by using the equivalent elastic moduli obtained from the in-plane deformation since the moments acting on inclined walls of honeycomb cell are different for the in-plane deformation and bending deformation. Based on the fact that the
inclined wall of the honeycomb is twisted under the condition that the rotation angle in both connection
edges is zero in bending deformation, a theoretical technique for calculating the honeycomb exural
rigidity is proposed. In the theoretical analysis, a torsion problem of a thin plate was solved by using
the generalized variational principle. The validity of the present analysis is demonstrated by numerical
results obtained by the nite element method.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, honeycombs have attracted considerable interest as advanced composite materials that satisfy the high performance requirements of machine design. Honeycombs are widely
used in areas ranging from the aerospace industry to household
applications. Thus, it is becoming ever more important to develop
methods for evaluating the elastic properties of various honeycomb materials. Very many studies have been performed on this
topic to calculate the in-plane equivalent elastic moduli of honeycomb [19], including a systematic review of various analytical
methods by Hohe and Becker [10]. Moreover, the three-dimensional problem that incorporates the effect of honeycomb height
has also been analyzed by Grediac [11], Shi and Tong [12], Becker
[13], Hohe and Becker [14], Xu and Qiao [15], Chen and Davalos
[16] and Chen and Ozaki [17] to more accurately calculate the elastic moduli of honeycomb.
In the design process of honeycomb structures, nding the
bending deection when a load acts in the direction perpendicular
to the plane of honeycomb structure is also necessary; however,
this problem has been only partially addressed. Abd El-Sayed
et al. [18] proposed a calculation method of honeycomb curvature
in bending deformation, however it is not highly precise as shown
later. Alderson et al. [19] investigated honeycomb curvature in
bending deformation using simulation results of nite element
model. No highly precise theoretical analysis of this problem has
been reported to date.

Tel.: +81 3 5228 8367; fax: +81 3 5213 0977.

E-mail address: chend@rs.kagu.tus.ac.jp
0263-8223/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2010.08.006

In the deformation analysis of honeycomb structures, the honeycomb is usually considered to be a homogeneous plate with
equivalent elastic modulus due to their cyclic cell structure. For a
honeycomb formed from hexagonal cells shown in Fig. 1, the
in-plane equivalent elastic modulus, namely the equivalent elastic
moduli along the x-axis and y-axis Ex and Ey and Poissons ratios mxy
and myx have been considered in the work of Gibson et al. [3]. They
obtained

 3
t
Es ;
sin h1 sin h l
 3
1 sin h t
Es ;
Ey
cos3 h
l
cos2 h
;
mxy
sin h1 sin h
sin h1 sin h
myx
:
cos2 h
Ex

cos h

In the present research, for the honeycomb cell wall the material
Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio are denoted by Es and ms,
respectively.
In the analysis of a plate bending deformation, the necessary
elastic moduli are the exural rigidities Dx, Dy and D1 [20] which
relate moments M x and M y with curvatures of the deformed plate
1/qx and 1/qy as

Mx Dx

qx

D1

qy

M y Dy

qy

D1

qx

Based on the Kirchhoff hypothesis, the exural rigidity of a plate is

given from its in-plane equivalent elastic modulus by the following
equation:

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D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Fig. 1. Geometry of regular hexagonal cell.

Dx

Ex h
;
121  mxy myx

Dy

Ey h
;
121  mxy myx

D1

Ex myx h
:
121  mxy myx
3

It is desirable that Eq. (3) is also applicable to the honeycomb bending problem. However, for a regular hexagonal cell (h = 30) Eq. (1)
yields mxy  myx = 1 for Poissons ratio, and the exural rigidities Dx, Dy
and D1 dened by Eq. (3) become innite, thus making analysis
impossible.
Such a problem of mxy  myx = 1 is caused by the approximation
technique used in deriving Eq. (1), in which only the bending
deformation of cell walls is taken into account. Masters and Evans
[5] extended the analysis of the in-plane elastic modulus of honeycomb by taking the tensile deformation and shear deformation, besides the bending deformation, of the cell walls into consideration,
which leads to

 3
t
1
h
i  ;

2
l
sin h1 sin h
1 21 mS tan12 h tl
 3
1 sin h t
1

Ey Es

 2 ;
3
cos h
l
1 21 mS tan2 h cos22 h tl
 2
1 21 mS  1 tl
cos2 h
h
i

mxy
;
sin h1 sin h 1 21 mS 1 t2
tan2 h l
 2
1 21 mS  1 tl
sin h1 sin h
myx


 2 ;
cos2 h
1 21 mS tan2 h 22 t
Ex Es

cos h

cos h

which is slightly different to Eq. (1). Using Eq. (4) to determine Poissons ratio of a regular hexagon yields mxy  myx 1. Then, the bending rigidities Dx, Dy and D1 dened by Eq. (3) become nite values,
thereby making the analysis possible. It seems that the bending
deformation of honeycomb can be analyzed by using the exural
rigidities obtained by substituting Eq. (4) into Eq. (3). However,
our investigation, the details of which will be shown later, shows
a regrettable fact that the exural rigidity obtained in this way cannot be accurately applied to the honeycomb bending analysis.
The rst motive to begin this research is looking for the reason
why Eq. (3) is inapplicable to the honeycomb bending problem,
and trying to propose an effective technique for analyzing honeycomb bend. In this study a detailed investigation of the bending
mechanics of honeycomb is carried out, and a theoretical technique for determining the exural rigidity of honeycomb is proposed. The validity of the present analysis is demonstrated by
numerical results obtained by the nite element method (FEM).

Fig. 2. Analyzed honeycomb model.

cell wall are l = 10 mm, t = 0.5 mm and h = 2.5 mm, respectively. In

this model, the honeycomb is supported at points E and F shown in
the gure (points at y = 50 mm and y = 50 mm on the y-axis), a
moment M x is applied uniformly to edges BC and DA, and a
moment M y is applied uniformly to edges AB and CD. Here, in order
to distinguish the honeycomb equivalent global stress and
moment from those for each cell wall, a bar is placed above the
symbol for global stress and moment. Furthermore, the Youngs
modulus is Es = 107 N/mm2 and Poissons ratio is ms = 0.3 for the
honeycomb cell wall material.
In order to examine the effectiveness of honeycomb exural
rigidity investigated in this research, a thin plate is used to model
the honeycomb. The thin plate imitating the honeycomb shown in
Fig. 2 has the same size of a  b (a = 16  l cos h = 138.56 mm,
b = 8  l(1 + sin h) = 120 mm) and height h = 2.5 mm, as shown in
Fig. 3. This plate model is used as the object of the theoretical analysis. The load and boundary conditions for the plate model are the
same as in the honeycomb model, that is, the plate is supported at
points E and F shown in the gure, the moment M x is applied to
edges BC and DA and the moment M y is applied to edges AB and
CD.
Based on the theory of thin plate, the theoretical solution of
bending deection w to the problem shown in Fig. 3 is given as

w C 0 C 1 x2 C 2 y 2 :

2. Problem used for examination of honeycomb exural rigidity

In the present research, as an example of honeycomb structure,
we consider the 7-row, 8-column honeycomb model shown in
Fig. 2, which is constituted of periodically arranged regular hexagonal cells, shown in Fig. 1. The length, thickness and height of the

Fig. 3. Analyzed plate model, which imitates the honeycomb model shown in Fig. 2.

738

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Here, coefcients C1 and C2 are determined from the condition that

the bending moments equal Mx and My in x- and y-directions,
respectively. Then

1
Dx C 1 D1 C 2  M x ;
2

1
D1 C 1 Dy C 2  M y ;
2

A
A
B

from which

D1 M y  Dy Mx
;
C1 
2 Dx Dy  D21

y
D1 M x  Dx M y
:
C2 
2 Dx Dy  D21

D
B
D

Fig. 4. One unit of honeycomb.

Then the condition of the deection at point E being zero gives

C 0 C 2 y2E ;

where yE is the y-coordinate of point E, yE = 50.

Moreover, the honeycomb bending is also analyzed by FEM,
which is directly applied to the honeycomb model shown in
Fig. 2. Numerical analysis is carried out with the commercial
FEM analysis package MSC.Marc. These results are then compared
with the theoretical solution given by Eq. (5).
3. Differences of honeycomb in-plane deformation and out-ofplane bending deformation
Using the honeycomb exural rigidity obtained by substituting
Eq. (4) into Eq. (3), deection of the thin plate shown in Fig. 3 is obtained from Eq. (5). This result is then compared with the numerical results obtained by FEM analysis for the honeycomb model
shown in Fig. 2.
Table 1 shows the deection of point G7 (point at x = 60.63 mm
on the x-axis) found from the honeycomb model using FEM analysis and from the thin plate model using Eq. (5) for the following
three load cases: (1) M x 28:33 N (distribution density of the moment per unit length; same for M y ), M y 0; (2) M x 0,
M y 28:33 N; (3) M x M y 28:33 N. From the results shown in
Table 1, when M x M y as in the case of load (3), the theoretical
solution of the plate model is in good agreement with the numerical result of the honeycomb model; however, when the acting load
is only M x or only M y as in the case of load (1) or (2), the amount of
deection for point G7 in both models differs by a factor of more
than 20. Therefore, it is apparent that the exural rigidity based
on honeycomb in-plane elastic modulus, as expressed in Eq. (3),
is inapplicable to analysis of the honeycomb bending problem.
In order to propose an applicable calculation technique for honeycomb exural rigidity, we have to investigate the reason why Eq.
(3) is inapplicable to the honeycomb bending problem.
Here, we compare the bending deformation caused by uniform
moments M x and M y with the in-plane deformation caused by uniform stresses rx and ry to investigate the bending mechanics of
honeycomb.
The deformation of honeycomb is analyzed using one unit
shown in Fig. 4, because the honeycomb is constituted by periodical arraying of these units.
In the following investigation, excluding Section 4, the global
coordinate system (x, y, z) is used for the honeycomb as a whole,
as shown in Figs. 14; however, a local coordinate system (n, g, f)
is used for each cell plate, as shown in Fig. 5. The coordinate plane

(x, y) of the global coordinate system and the plane (n, f) of the local
coordinate system are both located at the center of the height of
the cell wall, and the z and g components are equal, z = g.
Assuming the honeycomb to be an equivalent homogeneous
material, the bending stress caused by the bending moments M x
and M y is given as follows :

rx

Mx z
;
Ih

ry

My z
:
Ih

h
Here, Ih 12
. In this case, as shown in Fig. 6, the force acting on the
vertical cell wall is

qn jv 2ry l cos h;

qf jv 0;

10

and forces acting on the inclined wall in the x and y directions are
pxjl and pyjl.

px jl rx l1 sin h;

py jl ry l cos h:

Here, the subscripts v and l are used to denote the vertical wall and
inclined wall, respectively, and due to the leftright symmetry we
only show the forces acting on the left inclined wall.
The components of force for the inclined wall in the n-direction
and f-direction (out-of-plane direction normal to the wall plane)
can be obtained from forces pxjl and pyjl and are expressed as

qn jl px jl cos h py jl sin h;

qf jl py jl cos h  px jl sin h:

(1)

(2)

(3)

FEM analysis for Fig. 2

Eqs. (5) and (3) for Fig. 3

0.91
23.51

0.87
23.46

0.045
0.044

12

In the case of the in-plane deformation the force acting on cell walls
due to an in-plane load rx and ry can also be expressed by Eqs.
(10)(12), however the force for honeycomb in-plane deformation
is equal along the height direction (g direction). Therefore, from
the equilibrium conditions of moment around the g  axis relating
to the inclined wall, moments Mgjlare necessary to be generated on
both edges of the plate, as shown in Fig. 7a.

M g jl

qf
2

13

However, for honeycomb bending deformation, the force acting on

the inclined wall are distributed linearly with the resultant force
being zero, as shown in Fig. 7b. With such a force distribution, the
moment equilibrium around the g-axis is established. This differs
from the in-plane deformation, as there is no need for a moment

Table 1
Deection at point G7 in honeycomb model and plate model for three cases of loading
conditions.
Load case

11

Fig. 5. Local coordinate system used for each cell wall.

739

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Fig. 6. Forces acting on each cell wall of a honeycomb.

on the edge of the inclined wall to satisfy the moment equilibrium.

Therefore, Eq. (13) for calculating the moment Mgjl in the in-plane
problem does not hold for the honeycomb bending problem. In order to conrm this fact, moments acting on an inclined wall in the
honeycomb in-plane deformation and bending deformation are
investigated based on numerical results of FEM analysis, as shown
in Fig. 8.
The hexagon shown in Fig. 8a is located at the center of the honeycomb model shown in Fig. 2, and the nodes on the inclined cell
wall in g = h/2 that are used in the FEM analysis are denoted by
points E to M. For the honeycomb bending deformation caused
by a moment M y and for the honeycomb in-plane deformation
caused a stress ry acting uniformly along the height direction, mo-

ments Mi(i = E  M) generated at nodes E to M in g = h/2 are shown

in Fig. 8b. The moments Mi at each node shown on the vertical axis
of the gure are divided by the moment Meq(13) dened by Eq. (13).
As shown in the gure, the moments acting on the cell wall for inplane deformation can be evaluated by Eq. (13) (since node E is
about 0.1l from the edge, M E =M eq:13 0:4
0:8). However, the mo0:5
ments acting on the cell wall in the case of bending deformation,
excluding both edges, are almost zero and thus cannot be evaluated by Eq. (13). Furthermore, in order to see the features of distribution of the moments along the length of the cell wall due to
bending deformation, the ratio Mi/ME of the moment of each point
to the moment of point E are also shown in Fig. 8b. As shown in this
gure, moments acting on the cell wall during bending deformation are concentrated at the connection edges, and this distribution
is conrmed to greatly differ from in-plane deformation. From this
fact, we can understand why Eq. (3) is inapplicable to the honeycomb bending problem.
The cause of moments forming in the inclined cell wall during
bending deformation is for maintaining the corner form of cell wall
junction. The cell wall junction is more difcult to deform than the
central part and can be assumed to be xed ends. This can be conrmed in the numerical results obtained by the nite element
method. For the honeycomb bending deformation investigated in
Fig. 8b, the displacement in f-direction, namely, the deection of
the inclined cell wall w is shown in Fig. 9. From this gure, the
inclination in the vicinity of the junction (n = l/2) decreases and

(a)

(b)

Fig. 7. Forces acting in f-direction on the inclined cell wall (a) in-plane deformation (b) bending deformation.

Mi / Meq.(13) , Mi / ME

Mi/ME for bending deformation

Mi/Meq.(13) for inplane
deformation

Mi/Meq.(13) for bending

deformation

(a)

(b)

Fig. 8. Distribution of moments acting on the inclined wall (a) positions of point E  M (b) distribution of moments.

740

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

0.01

y
A
0.008

z
Q

0.004

w/t

0.006

0.002
Fig. 10. Plate subjected to twisting moment.

0
0.5

/l

0.5

4.1. Equilibrium equations and boundary conditions

Based on the equilibrium of force and moment, the plate deection w satises the following differential equation:

Fig. 9. Deection of inclined cell wall.

the inclination can be assumed to approach zero at n = l/2. Thus

for the deection w of the cell wall we have the following boundary condition at the connection edges :

@w

@n

0:

14

nl=2

Such restraint for the cell wall edges is also expected for the in-plane
deformation as well as the bending deformation of honeycomb. For
the in-plane deformation it is conrmed easily that the deection w
satises the condition of Eq. (14) at the connection edges due to action of the moment Mg dened by Eq. (13). This means that, for the
deection analysis of cell wall, the condition of giving force qf with
the moment Mg = qf/2 is equivalent to a condition giving the force qf
with the boundary condition of @w/@njn=l/2 = 0.
Accordingly, in honeycomb bending deformation, moments are
also necessary to be generated at the connection edges of the inclined cell wall in order to satisfy Eq. (14); however, since the moment equilibrium is established around the n axis and g axis for
only the qf force, the values of the moment cannot be found using
Eq. (13). Therefore, in order to analyze the honeycomb bending
machanics based on deformation of each cell wall, we have to
know the deection of a thin plate subjected to force qf under
the boundary condition of Eq. (14).

In this section, we analyze the deection w of the rectangular

thin plate ABCD shown in Fig. 10, for which the plate length, height
and thickness are l, h and t, respectively, and the material Youngs
modulus and Poissons ratio are Es and ms, respectively. The plate is
subjected to a linearly distributed force Q in the z-direction,

15

which acts along edge AD (x = l/2) and edge BC (x = l/2), and as a

boundary condition for the deection w the rotation angle around
the y-axis at both edges AD and BC is zero,

@w

0:
@x
xl=2

16

The purpose of our analysis is to determine the rotation angle

around the x-axis of the edge BC with respect to edge AD. Here this
twisting angle is denoted by 2ctwist.

17

Considering the symmetry of the problem, only one-fourth of the

region, namely, the BEOF region (x P 0, y P 0 in Fig. 10), is considered. The boundary conditions for this region are listed below.
(1) From the left-right and up-down symmetry, the deection
and moment at x = 0 (edge OF) and y = 0 (edge OE) are zero.

w 0;

x 0 or y 0;

18

M x 0;

x 0;

19

M y 0;

y 0:

20

(2) The shear force and moment at y = h/2 (edge BF) are zero.

@M xy
0; y h=2;
@x
M y 0; y h=2:

Qy

21
22

(3) At x = l/2 (edge BE), the shear force given by Eq. (15) is
applied and the rotation angle around the y-axis is zero.

Qx

@Mxy Q 0 y
;

h=2
@y

@w
0;
@x

4. Theoretical analysis of plate torsion

y
;
Q Q0
h=2

@4w
@4w
@4w
2 2 2 4 0:
4
@x
@x @y
@y

x l=2:

x l=2:

23
24

(4) No concentrated force acts at corner B.

M xy 0;

x l=2; y h=2:

25

4.2. Conguration of the solution

The deection of a rectangular plate can be determined without
difculty using a trigonometric series if the boundary condition is
such that the plate is simply supported along two opposite edges.
Therefore, the solution to the plate shown in Fig. 10 is assumed to
be a sum of four solutions, each of which satises the equilibrium
equation, as follows:

w Kxy w1 w2 w3 :

26

Here, w1, w2 and w3 are solutions to the following three Problems

13. In all three problems, among the four edges there exist two
opposite edges being simply supported.

741

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Problem 1. The problem of a plate being simply supported at the

opposing edges BE and OF and having the deection at edge OE and
moments at edges OE and BF being zero.
From the condition that the deection and moment at opposing
edges BE and OF are zero, w1 is given in the following form:

w1

Y n sinan xan ;

Problem 3. The problem of a plate being simply supported at

opposing edges BF and OE and having deection at edge OF and
moments at edges OF and BE being zero.

28

The boundary conditions differ from those in Problem 2 in that

the moment at edge BE is zero, but the displacement is non-zero.
Therefore, as in the case of Problem 2, w3 is given as

where an is an unknown factor and an is

np
:
l=2

Furthermore, Yn is a function of only y. From the equilibrium equation and the condition that the deection and moment at the OE
edge are zero, Yn can be expressed as follows:

Yn

An sinhan y Dn an y coshan y:

29

w3

The deection at edge BF is non-zero. From Eq. (27), the deection

w1 at edge BF can be assumed to take the following form:

an sinan x;

y h=2:

30

n1;3;...

Z n sinbn ycn ;

39

n1;3;...

where cn is an unknown coefcient and Zn takes the following form:

n1;3;...

w1

38

27

n1;3;...

an

8
1
>
>
< Hn 2 sinhb l=2 ;
n
>
bn l=2 coshbn l=2
>
: En 
Hn :
sinhbn l=2

Zn

In sinhbn x Ln bn x coshbn x:

40

n1;3;...

The deection at edge BE is non-zero. From Eq. (39), the deection

w3 at edge BE can be assumed to take the following form:

The moment at edge BF is zero. Then, the following equation is obtained for w1:

w3

X
@ 2 w1
@ 2 w1
ms
ms
an a2n sinan x;
@y2
@x2
n1;3;...

The moment at edge BE is zero. Then, the following equation is obtained for w3.

y h=2:

31

By substituting Eq. (27) into Eqs. (30) and (31), the coefcients An
and Dn in Eq. (29) can be expressed in terms of an.

8
ms  1
>
>
< Dn 2 sinha h=2 ;
n
>
1  an h=2 coshan h=2
>
: An
Dn :
sinhan h=2

32

Problem 2. The problem of a plate being simply supported at the

opposing edges BF and OE and having deection at edges OF and BE
and moment at edge OF being zero.
From the condition that the deection and moment at opposing
edges BF and OE are zero, w2 is given as

w2

X n sinbn ybn :

33

n1;3;...

Here, bn is an unknown coefcient and bn is given below.

bn

np
:
h=2

34

In addition, Xn is a function of only x. From the equilibrium equation

and the condition that the deection and moment at the OF edge
are zero, Xn takes the following form:

Xn

En sinhbn x Hn bn x coshbn x:

35

n1;3;...

The deection at edge BE is zero.

w2 0;

x l=2:

36

The moment at edge BE is non-zero. From Eq. (33), the following

equation can be assumed to hold:

X
@ 2 w2

bn b2n sinbn y;
2
@x
n1;3;...

x l=2:

37

By substituting Eq. (33) into Eqs. (36) and (37), the coefcients Enand Hn in Eq. (35) can be expressed in terms of bn.

cn sinbn y;

x l=2:

41

n1;3;...

X
@ 2 w3
@ 2 w1
ms
ms
cn b2n sinbn y;
2
2
@x
@y
n1;3;...

x l=2:

42

By substituting Eq. (39) into Eqs. (41) and (42), the coefcients Inand Ln in Eq. (40) can be expressed in terms of bn.

8
ms  1
>
>
< Ln 2 sinhb l=2 ;
n
>
1  bn l=2 coshbn l=2
>
: In
Ln :
sinhbn l=2

43

4.3. Analysis
For the deection w shown in Eq. (26), the equilibrium Eq. (17),
the boundary condition Eqs. (18)(20) at edges OE and OF, and the
zero moment boundary condition Eq. (22) at edge BF are already
satised; however, the boundary condition Eq. (23) dening the
shear force at edge BE, the boundary condition Eq. (24) dening
the rotation angle of zero around the y-axis at edge BE, the boundary condition Eq. (21) dening zero shear force at edge BF and the
boundary condition Eq. (25) dening zero force at corner B are not
yet satised. Therefore, satisfying the following equation from the
generalized variational principle [21,22] is necessary.





Z
Z 
@M xy
Q y
@w
 dM x dy
Qx
 0  dw dy
h=2
@x
@y
BE
BE


Z 
@M xy
Qy
 dw dx  2M xy jB  dwB 0:

@x
BF

44

R
R
Here, BE    dy and BF    dx are the integrals along edges BE and BF,
respectively, and MxyjB is the moment Mxy at point B. Furthermore,
dw is the virtual deection satisfying Eq. (17), and corresponding to
this displacement, dMx and dwB are the moments and the displacement of point B, respectively.
For the virtual deection satisfying the equilibrium Eq. (17), we
can select the following possible displacements:
(1) By assuming only am(m = 1, 3, . . .) is non-zero, am 0, the virtual deection becomes

dw Y m sinam xdam ;
and from Eq. (44) we obtain

45

742

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

l=2

"

@3w
@3w

2

m

s
@y3
@x2 @y

sinam xdx 0;
46

(2) By assuming only bm(m = 1, 3, . . .) is non-zero, bm 0, the

virtual deection becomes

dw X m sinbm ydbm ;

47

and from Eq. (44) we obtain

h=2

 
@w
sinbm ydy 0;
@x xl=2

and from Eq. (44) we obtain

Q0
;
Ds

Ds

#
xl=2

9
q0 y =

h=2;

m 1; 3; . . .:

50

E t3
 s
:
12 1  m2s

dw xydK;

51

and from Eq. (44) we obtain

"
#
 
@3w
@3w
h

2

m

x dx
s
@y3
@x2 @y
2
0
yh=2
8
9
#
 
Z h=2 <" 3
@ w
@3w
q0 y = l
y dy
2  ms


3
2
: @x
@x@y
h=2; 2
0
xl=2
"
#
 
@2w
lh
 2 1  ms
@x@y
4
l=2

0:

d12 mn b3n

ctwist

l=2

sinan x sinam xdx

cn d12 mn 0;

l=2

X n sinam xdx  2  ms bn

l=2

Z n sinam xdx  2  ms bn

Z
Z

l=2

X 00n sinam xdx;

l=2

Z 00n sinam xdx;

h=2

Y n sinbm ydy;

0
h=2

wjxl=2 dy
h

57

1
l=10mm, h=10mm, t=1mm
N=49

bn d11 mn

m 1; 3; . . .;

53

an d21 mn

n1;3;...

i
X h  0

bn X n
xl=2 cn Z 0n
xl=2
n1;3;...

56

n1;3;...

y sinbm ydy

R h=2

w|x=l/2 / (Khl/4)

n1;3;...
h=2

yl=2 sinbn ydy

52

an e1 n

h=2

Z h=2
d31 mn a3n
Y n sinbm ydy  2  ms an
Y 00n sinbm ydy;
0
0


2 0
e1 n Y 000
n  2  ms an Y n yh=2 ;
" Z
#
Z l=2
h 3 l=2
bn
X n x dx  2  ms bn
X 00n x dx ;
e2 n
2
0
0
" Z
#
Z l=2
l=2
h 3
e3 n
bn
Z n x dx  2  ms bn
Z 00n x dx ;
2
0
0
" Z
#
Z h=2
h=2
l 3
00
f1 n
a
Y n y dy  2  ms an
Y n y dy ;
2 n 0
0
 000

f2 n X n  2  ms b2n X 0n xl=2 ;


2 0
f3 n Z 000
n  2  ms bn Z n xl=2 :

The following simultaneous equations for unknowns an,bn, cn(n =

1, 3, . . .) and K can be obtained from Eqs. (46), (48), (50) and (52).

n1;3;...

By taking terms until n = N (N is odd) in the approximation, the unknowns an, bn, cn(n = 1, 3, . . . , N) and K can be obtained from Eqs.
(53)(55) with m = 1, 3, . . . , N and Eq. (56), and the deection of
the plate can be found. In particular, the rotation angle ctwist of edge
BE with respect to edge OF can be calculated from the deection at
edge BE wjx=l/2 by the following equation:

xl=2;yh=2

bn f2 n cn f3 n 

cn e3 n

n1;3;...





lh1  m h
K  an Y 0n
yh=2 an  bn X 0n
xl=2 bn
2

i q l Z h=2

y2 dy:
 bn Z 0n
xl=2 cn 0
h 0

(4) By assuming only K is non-zero, K 0, the virtual deection

becomes

48

Here,

q0 

bn e2 n

n1;3;...

d21 mn an

@3w
2  ms
: @x3
@x@y2

X
n1;3;...

n1;3;...

49

8
Z h=2 <" 3
@ w

xh=2 sinan xdx

an f1 n

d11 mn b3n

dw Z m sinbm ydcm ;

 sinbm ydy 0;

l=2

Here,

m 1; 3; . . .:

(3) By assuming only cm(m = 1, 3, . . .) is non-zero, cm 0, the virtual deection becomes

n1;3;...

yh=2

m 1; 3; . . .:

an e1 n

0.5

h=2

sinbn y sinbm ydy 0;

m 1; 3; . . .;

54

X
n1;3;...

an d31 mn

bn f2 n cn f3 n  

n1;3;...

 sinbm ydy

q0
h=2

h=2

sinbn y

0
0

h=2

y sinbm ydy;

m 1; 3; . . .;

55

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

y/(h/2)

Fig. 11. Distribution of deection wjx=l/2 along edge BE.

743

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

5.1. Case of only moment M y acting

Table 2
Torsion coefcients qs.
h/l

ms

FEM

Present theoretical analysis

0.25

0.0
0.3

0.112
0.143

0.110
0.138

0.50

0.0
0.3

0.198
0.246

0.196
0.238

1.00

0.0
0.3

0.293
0.344

0.309
0.344

5.1.1. Vertical wall rotation angle

The vertical wall is subjected to an in-plane force T. From Eq.
(10) we obtain

For the deection w expressed by Eq. (26), only the solution of Kxy
and w3 of Problem 3 have non-zero deection at edge BE. Fig. 11
shows the distribution of deection wjx=l/2 along edge BE found with
N = 49 for a plate with l = 10 mm, h = 10 mm and t = 1 mm. The vertical axis shows the deection wjx=l/2divided by Khl/4, where values
of K are obtained from the solution of the simultaneous equations.
As shown in the gure, for deection wjx=l/2, compared with Kxy, the
inuence of w3 is extremely small, and along edge BE, the deection
wjx=l/2 is almost equal to (Kl/2)y and is distributed linearly. The value of ctwist calculated from Eq. (57) equals Kl/2 to three signicant
gures.
4.4. Values of ctwist
It is seen from the simultaneous Eqs. (46), (48), (50) and (52)
that the twisting angle ctwist can be expressed in the following
form:

ctwist qs h=l; ms 

 3
Q0
l
;

t
Es l

Fig. 12 shows the rotation angle for each cell wall when only
moment M y is acting. The sign of each rotation angle shown in
the gure is labeled as positive. The same labeling is used in
Fig. 13 below.

58

T 0 ry jgh=2 2l cos h 2l cos h

M y h=2
:
Ih

61

Substituting this equation into Eq. (60), the rotation angle hvx of
edge AA0 with respect to edge BB0 of the vertical wall becomes
2

hv x 2

M y l cos h
:
EIh t

62

In this case, since the out-of-plane force is Q = 0, the following holds

true:

hv y 0:

63

5.1.2. Rotation angle due to in-plane bending of the inclined wall

The in-plane force T acting on the inclined wall is obtained from
Eq. (12).

T 0 ry jgh=2 l cos h sin h l cos h sin h

My h=2
:
Ih

64

Substituting this equation into Eq. (60), the rotation angle hlr of the
inclined wall is obtained as follows:
2

where coefcient qs(h/l, m) is a function of h/l and ms only.

Table 2 shows the twisting coefcient qs obtained from FEM
numerical analysis using the MSC.Marc package and from the present theoretical analysis. As shown in the table, the results of the
present analysis agree well with the numerical results of FEM
analysis.

hlr

M y l cos h sin h
:
EIh t

65

5. Theoretical analysis of honeycomb exural rigidity

In this section, the deformation of one unit, as shown in Fig. 4, is
analyzed and the honeycomb exural rigidity is found. The bending deformation of one unit is evaluated by the rotation of each
wall edge of the unit (AA0 , CC0 and DD0 ) around the x-axis and yaxis.
Under the action of the moments M x and M y , there may exists
two kind of forces linearly distributed along cell wall edges. The
one is the force Q, as given in Eq. (15), which acts in the f-direction.
In this case the cell wall deformation is evaluated by the twisting
angle 2ctwist and is given by Eq. (58) shown in Section 4. The other
is an in-plane force component T, which acts in n-direction and is
expressed as

T T0

g
h=2

Fig. 12. Rotation angle of each cell wall when only moment M y is acting.

59

The in-plane bending deformation of a plate due to the in-plane

force T can be analyzed as a problem of pure bending of a beam
in material mechanics. The rotation angle hT of edge n = l/2 with respect to edge n = l/2 is calculated as follows:

hT

T 0l
:
Es th=2

60
Fig. 13. Rotation angle of each cell wall when only moment M x is acting.

744

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Therefore, the rotation angles hlrjx and hlrjy around the x-axis and yaxis are

hlr jx hlr sin h;

hlr jx hlr sin h;

5.2.3. Rotation angle due to twisting of the inclined wall

The out-of-plane components of force Q acting on the inclined
wall are

hlr jy hlr cos h:

66

5.1.3. Rotation angle due to twisting of the inclined wall

The out-of-plane components of force Q acting on the inclined
wall are obtained from Eq. (12).

Q 0 ry jgh=2 l cos2 h l cos2 h

M y h=2
:
Ih

67

Substituting this equation into Eq. (58), the rotation angle hls of
edge CC0 with respect to edge BB0 of the inclined wall becomes

"

# 3
l
2 M y h=2
hls 2qs h=l; t=l; m  cos h
:
Es I h
t

68

hlr jy hlr cos h:

76

Q 0 rx jgh=2 l sin h1 sin h l sin h1 sin h

Mx h=2
:
Ih

77

Substituting this equation into Eq. (58), the rotation angle hls of the
inclined wall is obtained.

"

Mx h=2
hls 2qs l; h; t; E; m  sin h1 sin h
Es I h

# 
3
l
:
t

78

Therefore, the rotation angles hlsjx and hlsjy around the x-axis and yaxis are described by the following equations:

Therefore, the rotation angles hlsjx and hlsjy around the x-axis and yaxis are

hls jx hls cos h;

hls jx hls cos h;

5.2.4. Bending compliance

Therefore, the bending curvature of the unit shown in Fig. 4 can
be derived from the following equation:

hls jy hls sin h:

69

5.1.4. Bending compliance

The bending curvature of one unit in Fig. 4 due to the moment
M y can be found from the following equation:

qy

hlr jx hls jx hv x
;
l1 sin h

My

x My

hlr jy  hls jy  2
:
2l cos h

70

On the other hand, the bending curvature is related to moments

through bending compliances Cx, Cy and C1 as follows:

qx

C x Mx C 1 My ;

qy

C 1 Mx C y My :

C1

My

My

Cy

qy

My

My

72

x Mx

hlr jy hls jy  2
:
2l cos h

5.2.1. Vertical wall rotation angle

In this case, since the in-plane and out-of-plane components of
forces T and Q acting on the vertical wall are both zero, the rotation
angles of the vertical wall, hvx and hvy, are also both zero.

hv y 0:

73

5.2.2. Rotation angle due to in-plane bending of the inclined wall

The in-plane force T acting on the inclined wall are obtained
from Eq. (12).

M x h=2
:
Ih

74

Substituting this equation into Eq. (59), the rotation angle hlr of the
inclined wall is obtained.

Moreover, the bending compliance from Eq. (71) is described as

follows:

Cx

qx
M

Mx

C1

qy
M

Mx

81

From Eq. (71), we obtain

Mx

C y q1  C 1 q1
x

C x C y  C 21

My

C x q1  C 1 q1
y

Mx l cos h1 sin h
:
EIh t

C x C y  C 21

Dx

Cy
C x C y  C 21

Dy

Cx
C x C y  C 21

82

D1

C 1
C x C y  C 21

83

In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method for

determining honeycomb exural rigidity, the derived exural
rigidity equations were applied in analysis of the honeycomb
bending deformation. First, for the honeycomb model shown in
Fig. 2 the exural rigidity was determined. Table 3 lists the exural
rigidities values of Dx, Dy and D1 obtained from Eq. (83) of the theoretical technique explained in Section 5, as well as those obtained
from Eqs. (3) and (4), which were based on the in-plane elastic
modulus. In Table 3, two kinds of theoretical results obtained from
Eq. (83) are shown for comparison. One is result for which the

Table 3
Flexural rigidity of honeycomb with h/l = 0.25,t/l = 0.05 and ms = 0.3.

75

Therefore, the rotation angles hlrjx and hlrjy around the x-axis and yaxis are

6. Analysis results and discussion

hlr

80

from which the exural rigidity used in the plate bending analysis is
obtained as follows:

Fig. 13 shows the rotation angle for each cell wall when only
moment M x is acting.

T 0 rx jgh=2 l cos h1 sin h l cos h1 sin h

Mx

5.3. Flexural rigidity

5.2. Case of only moment M x acting

hv x 0;

hlr jx  hls jx
;

l1 sin h

79

71

Thus, by considering Mx 0 in this case, the bending compliances

are obtained as follows:

qx

qy

hls jy hls sin h:

Eq. (83) with qs obtained from FEM

Eq. (83) with qs obtained in Section 4
Eqs. (3) and (4)

Dx/Esh3

Dy/Esh3

D1/Esh3

0.00136
0.00137
0.00121

0.00136
0.00137
0.00121

0.00105
0.00104
0.00119

745

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

Table 4
Deection at points G1  G7 in honeycomb model and plate model when M x 28:33 N is acting.
Point

FEM for Fig. 2

G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7

0.11
0.27
0.30
0.33
0.42
0.62
0.91

Theoretical analysis using Eq. (5)

Abd El-Sayed et al. [18]

Eq. (83) with qs obtained from FEM

Eq. (83) with qs obtained in Section 4

Eqs. (3) and (4)

0.11
0.27
0.30
0.33
0.43
0.62
0.92

0.11
0.25
0.29
0.31
0.41
0.60
0.88

3.41
7.95
9.08
9.75
12.04
16.63
23.51

0.13
0.30
0.34
0.37
0.48
0.70
1.03

Table 5
Deection at points G1  G7 in honeycomb model and plate model when M y 28:33 N is acting
Point

G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7

FEM for Fig. 2

0.14
0.34
0.39
0.41
0.49
0.64
0.87

Theoretical analysis using Eq. (5)

Abd El-Sayed et al. [18]

Eq. (83) with qs obtained from FEM

Eq. (83) with qs obtained in Section 4

Eqs. (3) and (4)

0.15
0.34
0.39
0.42
0.50
0.65
0.87

0.14
0.33
0.38
0.41
0.48
0.62
0.84

3.44
8.03
9.17
9.84
12.11
16.65
23.46

0.16
0.38
0.44
0.46
0.55
0.72
0.98

Table 6
Deection at points G1  G7 in honeycomb model and plate model when M x 28:33N and M y 28:33N are acting.
Point

G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7

FEM for Fig. 2

0.032
0.074
0.084
0.085
0.063
0.020
0.045

Theoretical analysis using Eq. (5)

Abd El-Sayed et al. [18]

Eq. (83) with qs obtained from FEM

Eq. (83) with qs obtained in Section 4

Eqs. (3) and (4)

0.034
0.079
0.090
0.091
0.069
0.024
0.044

0.034
0.079
0.090
0.091
0.069
0.024
0.044

0.034
0.079
0.090
0.091
0.069
0.024
0.044

value of twisting coefcient qs is obtained from FEM analysis, and

the other is result for which qs is obtained from theoretical analysis
demonstrated in Section 4.
Calculations were then carried out using the Dx, Dy and D1 values listed in Table 3 for the cases where the plate model shown in
Fig. 3 was acted upon by three types of load: (1) M x 28:33
N; M y 0; (2) M x 0; M y 28:33 N; and (3) M x M y 28:33 N.
The deection for each point G1  G7 on the plate was found by
using Eq. (5). These results are listed in Tables 46. The tables also
list the numerical results of FEM analysis of the honeycomb model
shown in Fig. 2 for comparison. As shown in the tables, the results
of the deection analysis based on honeycomb exural rigidity that
were determined by the proposed method in Section 5 are in good
agreement with the numerical results of FEM analysis. However,
the results of the plate deection analysis based on the honeycomb
in-plane elastic modulus in the cases of loads (1) and (2) do not totally agree with the numerical results of FEM analysis. In the case
of load (3) shown in Table 6, that is, for load conditions of M x M y ,
the analysis results based on the in-plane elastic modulus are in
exact agreement with the analysis results of this study and agree
well with the numerical results of the FEM analysis. When
M x M y and h = 30, the force qfin direction normal to wall plane
becomes zero, as calculated with Eq. (12).

q f jl

My g
2
lcos2 h  sin h  sin h 0
Ih

84

If the force qf is zero, then the twisting deformation of the inclined

cell wall of the honeycomb must also be zero.

0.034
0.079
0.090
0.091
0.069
0.024
0.044

In Tables 46 are shown also results of the plate deection analysis using the calculation method of curvature proposed by Abd ElSayed et al. [18]. Their results are correct in general as compared
with the results obtained from FEM analysis. In their analysis,
the twisting deformation of the inclined cell wall is taken into account. However, since the boundary condition at the connection
edges, namely Eq. (14) is not satised in the analysis, the results
are always larger than the results of FEM about ten percent, as
shown in Tables 4 and 5.

7. Conclusion
In this research, the exural rigidity of a honeycomb consisting
of regular hexagonal cells was investigated and the following results were obtained:
(1) The honeycomb bending deformation can not be treated as a
plate bending problem using the equivalent in-plane elastic
modulus.
(2) The moments acting on the honeycomb inclined cell wall
differ for honeycomb bending deformation and in-plane
deformation.
(3) The honeycomb inclined cell wall undergoes twisting deformation for the bending deformation; however, the rotation
angle at both connection edges is zero.
(4) A method for calculating the honeycomb exural rigidity
based on the bending and twisting deformation of each plate
forming the honeycomb was proposed. In the theoretical
analysis, the torsion problem of a thin plate was solved by

746

D.H. Chen / Composite Structures 93 (2011) 736746

using the generalized variational principle. Based on the

numerical results of FEM analysis, the effectiveness of the
proposed method was demonstrated.
Furthermore, in order to carry out analysis of bending deformation by treating a honeycomb as a thin equivalent plate, it is also
necessary to determine the exural rigidity modulus Dxy; however,
this analysis will be reported separately.
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