Axial Performance of Jointed Sandwich Wall Panels
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 21, Issue 4
Abstract
Throughout this paper, a new system for connecting composite sandwich wall panels is proposed. The relevant structural components are investigated with the aim of utilizing these panels as insulated wall elements in building applications or prefabricated modular systems. The adopted sandwich wall panels are composed of hand-layup glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) outer skins and low-density closed polyurethane (PU) foam core. The sandwich wall panels present an overall geometry of . One challenge of the proposed new system that was examined included joining the panels in the longitudinal direction (along their height) and transversally connecting (along their width) to other structural elements, similar to beams at the bottom and top. The structural performance of the sandwich wall panels was experimentally tested and thereafter analytically assessed in two cases: (1) single wall panels; and (2) two jointed wall panels. Outward localized GFRP wrinkling, followed by global buckling was observed as the dominant failure mode in both cases. Further, the capability of the proposed connection system to increase the axial load capacity of the jointed panels was evaluated. The study illustrates that axial capacity of two jointed sandwich wall panels, compared to the single sandwich wall panel, increased substantially from 91 to 152% depending on the failure modes.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work is part of the research project “ClickHouse—Development of a prefabricated emergency house prototype made of composites materials,” involving the company ALTO—Perfis Pultrudidos, Lda., CERis/Instituto Superior Técnico and ISISE/University of Minho, supported by FEDER funds through the Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors—COMPETE and the Portuguese National Agency of Innovation (ADI)—Project No. 38967. Special thanks are given to company ALTO who manufactured all the elements (GFRP profiles and sandwich panels) involved in this work.
References
Allen, G. H. (1969). Analysis and design of structural sandwich panels, Pergamon Press, London.
ASTM. (2000a). “Standard test method for shear properties of sandwich core materials.” ASTM C273, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2000b). “Standard test method for tensile properties of polymer matrix composite materials.” ASTM D3039/D3039M-14, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2004). “Standard test method for tensile properties of plastics.” ASTM D638, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2005a). “Standard test method for flatwise compressive properties of sandwich cores.” ASTM C365, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2005b). “Standard test method for tensile strength of concrete surfaces and the bond strength or tensile strength of concrete repair and overlay materials by direct tension (pull-off method).” ASTM C1583, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard test methods for constituent content of composite materials.” ASTM D3171-06, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2010). “Standard test method for flatwise tensile strength of sandwich constructions.” ASTM C297-04, West Conshohocken, PA.
Borsellino, C., Calabrese, L., and Valenza, A. (2004). “Experimental and numerical evaluation of sandwich composite structures.” Compos. Sci. Technol., 64(10–11), 1709–1715.
Carlsson, L. A., and Kardomateas, G. A. (2011). Structural and failure mechanics of sandwich composites, Springer, New York.
Engesser, F. (1981). “Die Knickfestigkeit gerader Stäbe.” Zeitschrift des Architekten und Ingenieure Vereines zu Hannove, 35, 455 (in German).
Fam, A., and Sharaf, T. (2010). “Flexural performance of sandwich panels comprising polyurethane core and GFRP skins and ribs of various configurations.” Compos. Struct., 92(12), 2927–2935.
Frostig, Y. (1998). “Buckling of sandwich panels with a flexible core–High-order theory.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 35(3–4), 183–204.
Frostig, Y., and Barnch, M. (1993). “High-order buckling analysis of sandwich beams with transversely flexible core.” J. Eng. Mech., 476–495.
Garrido, M., Correia, J. R., Keller, T., and Branco, F. A. (2015). “Adhesively bonded connections between composite sandwich floor panels for building rehabilitation.” Compos. Struct., 134, 255–268.
Haringx, J. A. (1950). On highly compressible helical springs and rubber rods, and their application for vibration-free mountings, Philips Research Laboratories, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Hart-Smith, L. J. (1973). “Advanced-bonded scarf and stepped-lap joints.” National aeronautics and space administration Virginia, Hampton, VA.
Hart-Smith, L. J. (2003). “Adhesively bonded joints for fibrous composite structures.” Recent advances in structural joints and repairs for composite materials, L. Tongand and C. Soutis, eds., Dordrecht, Netherlands, 173–210.
Keller, T., Rothe, J., de Castro, J., and Osei-Antwi, M. (2014). “GFRP-balsa sandwich bridge deck: Concept, design, and experimental validation.” J. Compos. Constr., .
Liu, Z., Majumdar, P., Cousins, T., and Lesko, J. (2008). “Development and evaluation of an adhesively bonded panel-to-panel joint for a FRP bridge deck system.” J. Compos. Constr., 224–233.
Mara, V., Al-Emrani, M., and Haghani, R. (2014). “A novel connection for fibre reinforced polymer bridge decks: Conceptual design and experimental investigation.” Compos. Struct., 117, 83–97.
Mathieson, H., and Fam, A. (2015). “Axial loading tests and simplified modeling of sandwich panels with GFRP skins and soft core at various slenderness ratios.” J. Compos. Constr., .
Mousa, M. A., and Uddin, N. (2012). “Structural behavior and modeling of full-scale composite structural insulated wall panels.” Eng. Struct., 41(0), 320–334.
Sharaf, T., Shawkat, W., and Fam, A. (2010). “Structural performance of sandwich wall panels with different foam core densities in one-way bending.” J. Compos. Mater., 44(19), 2249–2263.
Shawkat, W., Honickman, H., and Fam, A. (2008). “Investigation of a novel composite cladding wall panel in flexure.” J. Compos. Mater., 42(3), 315–330.
Southward, T., Mallinson, G. D., Jayaraman, K., and Horrigan, D. (2008). “Buckling of disbonds in honeycomb-core sandwich beams.” J. Sandwich Struct. Mater., 10(3), 195–216.
Turner, M. K., Harries, K. A., Petrou, M. F., and Rizos, D. (2004). “In situ structural evaluation of a GFRP bridge deck system.” Compos. Struct., 65(2), 157–165.
Zhou, A., and Keller, T. (2005). “Joining techniques for fiber reinforced polymer composite bridge deck systems.” Compos. Struct., 69(3), 336–345.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 21 • Issue 4 • August 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 12, 2016
Accepted: Oct 11, 2016
Published online: Feb 8, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 8, 2017
Published in print: Aug 1, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.