Dynamic Characteristics and Effective Stiffness Properties of Honeycomb Composite Sandwich Structures for Highway Bridge Applications
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 10, Issue 2
Abstract
In this paper, a combined analytical and experimental study of dynamic characteristics of honeycomb composite sandwich structures in bridge systems is presented, and a relatively simple and reliable dynamic experimental procedure to estimate the beam bending and transverse shear stiffness is proposed. This procedure is especially practicable for estimating the beam transverse shear stiffness, which is primarily contributed by the core and is usually difficult to measure. The composite sandwich beams are made of E-glass fiber and polyester resins, and the core consists of the corrugated cells in a sinusoidal configuration. Based on the modeling of equivalent properties for the face laminates and core elements, analytical predictions of effective flexural and transverse shear stiffness properties of sandwich beams along the longitudinal and transverse to the sinusoidal core wave directions are first obtained. Using piezoelectric sensors, the dynamic response data are collected, and the dynamic characteristics of the sandwich structures are analyzed, from which the flexural and transverse shear stiffness properties are reduced. The experimental stiffness results are then compared to the analytical stiffness properties, and relatively good correlations are obtained. The proposed dynamic tests using piezoelectric sensors can be used effectively to evaluate the dynamic characteristics and stiffness properties of large sandwich structures suitable for highway bridge applications.
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Acknowledgments
The test samples were provided by the KSCI, and we thank Professor Julio F. Davalos of West Virginia University and Dr. Jerry Plunkett of KSCI for their technical contributions and support. Partial financial support for this study is received from the National Science Foundation (EHR-0090472) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)/Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) (State Job No. 134142). The opinions and findings, however, are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring agencies.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 10 • Issue 2 • April 2006
Pages: 148 - 160
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 1, 2004
Accepted: Aug 4, 2005
Published online: Apr 1, 2006
Published in print: Apr 2006
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