Micropolar modeling approach for periodic sandwich beams

Abstract: We develop a micropolar Timoshenko beam theory and use it to model web-core sandwich beams. The beam theory is derived by a vector approach and the general displacement solution to the governing sixth-order equations is given. A nodally-exact micropolar Timoshenko beam element is formulated using the solution. Bending and shear stiffnesses for a micropolar web-core sandwich beam are determined through unit cell analysis where the split of the shear forces into symmetric and antisymmetric parts plays a pivotal role. Static bending of web-core beams is studied using the micropolar model as well as modified couple-stress and classical Timoshenko beams. The 1-D micropolar results are in best agreement with 2-D web-core beam frame results. This is because the micropolar beam allows antisymmetric shear deformation to emerge at locations where the 2-D web-core deformations cannot be reduced to 1-D by considering only symmetric shear behavior.