Spacecraft must balance protective performance against mass constraints when facing hypervelocity impact threats. This makes honeycomb sandwich panels (HC/SP) a widely adopted solution. However, the channeling effect degrades their protective capability. To address this issue, this study investigates a novel staggered honeycomb core configuration under oblique impact conditions. Using the finite element-smoothed particle hydrodynamics (FE-SPH) adaptive method, we analyzed the morphological characteristics of debris clouds and the failure modes of staggered honeycomb core sandwich panels (SHC/SP) under 45° oblique hypervelocity impact (HVI). For the first time, two distinct morphological phenomena induced by the staggered core are identified and defined: (1) the peripheral sub-cell lag and separation phenomenon of the in-line debris cloud, and (2) the multiplicity and small-angle tilting phenomenon of the normal debris cloud. A structural characterization model of debris clouds under oblique hypervelocity impacts is established, revealing the physical mechanism by which the SHC/SP mitigates the channeling effect through multiple dispersion. The findings provide a foundation for optimizing impact-resistant structures.
Han et al. (Wed,) studied this question.