Study on Fatigue Crack Growth of Sandwich Composite Panels with Opening

Owing to their remarkable specific strength and stiffness, coupled with superior impact resistance and thermal/acoustic insulation, sandwich composite panels are extensively utilized in marine, aerospace, and transportation sectors. In contrast to conventional monolithic structures, the multi-layered architecture of sandwich panels introduces complex fatigue failure mechanisms that are not yet fully understood. This study experimentally investigates a U-shaped core sandwich panel featuring a rectangular hatch opening under uniaxial tensile fatigue loading, aiming to characterize its crack initiation and propagation behavior. Subsequently, a custom three- dimensional fatigue crack growth simulation code is developed, grounded in linear elastic fracture mechanics and the extended finite element method (XFEM). A comparison with experimental measurements reveals that the maximum relative error between the predicted and observed fatigue life is 15.7%. The findings offer a theoretical foundation and a technical reference for the fatigue design and life assessment of such sandwich structures.