Sandwich Panel Modelling

[Lyster]

I assume the shell element properties are applied at the centroid of the thickness of the material.
I'm modeling a sandwich panel and what I've done is modelled the facing sheets on the surface of the core. But does this mean that half of the thickness of each facing sheet actually protrudes through the core?
i.e. If I have a facing sheet thickness of 8mm and a core thickness of 40mm and I model the facing sheet laminate as a symmetric laminate (no offset specified) with shells on the surface of the core at 40mm, does that then mean that the total panel thickness is 48mm (40 + 4 + 4) rather than the required 56mm?
If so, do I need to then specify an element offset or a material offset in the composite material section of t/2?
Thanks.

 

[40818]

If your sandwich panel has a total thickness of 56mm, and your face skins are 8mm each, your core must only be 40mm thick. You could if you wanted to offset the face skin elements by 1/2 thickness.

 

[Lyster]

Thanks for your reply but maybe I've asked my question in the wrong way.
My actual panel thickness is indeed 56mm but I fear, with the way I've modeled it, i.e. with the facing sheet shell elements on the surface of the 40mm core and no offsets specified in the composite material section, that I may be getting spurious results due to the actual facing sheet offset not being correctly specified. However, I'm not sure whether I need to offset nor how to offset the elements without having to physically translate them then reconnect them using bushes (or something) or whether the material or properties sections can take care of that for me.

 

[40818]

You should just be able to offset the element, never had to do it with anything other than bar elements, but i think the functionality is still there for shell elements.