Geometry, Sizing and Optimization of Honeycomb Structures along with Embedded Metal Inserts on the Floor for Truck-Mounted Container Applications

With the rise of worldwide trends towards light weighting and the move towards electric vehicles, it is now more important than ever for the automotive industry to develop and implement lightweight materials that will result in significant weight reduction and product improvements. A great deal of research has been done on how to best combine and configure honeycomb cores with the right face sheets for Truck-Mounted Container Applications. Honeycomb structures possess the ability to bring about superior structural rigidity when the core parameters are selected and optimized based on the automotive application requirements. Through a variety of experimental tests for various combinations of the core parameters, the selection of the critical honeycomb core parameters to efficiently increase the compressive strength and panel rigidity of the entire container assembly has been evaluated and compared in order to determine the most effective combination to produce superior results for automotive applications specific to container segment.

The current study also describes the challenges that were faced when using honeycomb core structures for chassis installation as well as the extensive research that was done to identify the optimal option. As all loads and fastening will induce higher forces on the floor mountings, it became crucial to design appropriate metal inserts at these truck mounting locations in order to support these loads/forces and ensure proper distribution to the complete floor panel. Keeping this objective, various metal insert designs with different geometric characteristics were studied and experimental trials carried out in order to arrive at the optimum design sizing for best performance. The specifications of the metal insert built-in the floor panel to achieve the desired result of withstanding the container loads are also highlighted in the study.