Advances in the structural modeling of elastic sandwich panels

The area of sandwich construction has been an active field of research for more than five decades. During this period, a large number of mathematical models for structural sandwich panels has been provided, ranging from the early sandwich membrane models to more sophisticated recent approaches. Especially during the past decade, the increasing demand for high-performance, lightweight structures has stimulated a strong trend toward the develoment of refined models for sandwich plates and shells. The main focus of the present paper is a survey of recent developments and contemporary trends in the modeling of the deformation and buckling behavior of sandwich shells. The development of refined sandwich models is illustrated by an approach recently proposed by the authors. The basic ideas and features of this model are outlined and compared to alternative recent approaches presented by other authors.