The project considers sandwich structures consisting of a relatively thick and weak but light core, sandwich between two strong and stiff composite material skins. The emphasis in on large structures such as ship hulls and wind turbine blades. The research includes development and refinement of: -a new "smart" manufacturing method -an ultralight sandwich for aerospace use, developed mainly for general aviation aircraft such as the Cirrus SR_20 -a new heavy duty sandwich core, tailored for applications such as the US Navy's DD21 destroyer. The research encompass analytical and numerical analyses and optimization, experimental testing, and post-mortem evaluations. The new knowledge generated will be transferred to the industry via an industrial board and to academia via both in-house courses and via intimate collaboration with two local undergraduate colleges.
