For the first time, the bending analysis of a double curved sandwich panel was presented which was subjected to point load, uniform distributed load on a patch, and harmonic distributed loads and was based on a new improved higher order sandwich panel theory. Since the cross-sectional warping was accurately modeled by this theory, it did not require any shear correction factor. Also, the present analysis incorporated trapezoidal shape factor (the 1+z/R terms) of a curved panel element. Geometry was used for the consideration of different radii curvatures of the face sheets, while the core was unique. Unlike most of other reference works, the core can have non-uniform thickness. The governing equations were derived by the principle of minimum potential energy. The effects of types of boundary conditions, types of applied loads, core to panel, and radii curvatures ratios on the bending response were also studied.

This paper dealt with free vibration analysis of thick double curved composite sandwich panels with simply supported or fully clamped boundary conditions based on a new improved higher order sandwich panel theory. The formulation used the first order shear deformation theory for composite face sheets and polynomial description for the displacement field in the core layer which was based on the displacement field of Frostig's second model. The fully dynamic effects of the core layer and face sheets were also considered in this study. Using the Hamilton's principle, the governing equations were derived. Moreover, effects of some important parameters like that of boundary conditions, thickness ratio of the core to panel, radii curvatures and composite lay-up sequences were investigated on free vibration response of the panel. The results were validated by those published in the literature and with the FE results obtained by ABAQUS software. It was shown that thicker panels with a thicker core provided greater resistance to resonant vibrations. Also, effect of increasing the core thickness in general was significant decreased fundamental natural frequency values.