Sandwich structures are widely used in engineering due to their superior mechanical properties. In the present paper, the failure modes of fully clamped sandwich beams with aluminum foam cores subjected to low-velocity impact on the mid-span were investigated experimentally and theoretically. Two dominant failure modes were observed through the drop-weight tests, which are core shear and indentation. Based on the experimental observations, a failure mechanism map was constructed theoretically by utilizing the quasi-static method. It is found that the quasi-static method is valid to predict the failure modes of the sandwich beams under impact.
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