FEM-Based Numerical Strategy for Analysis of Composite Modular Floor Prototype for Emergency Housing Applications
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents a numerical modeling strategy based on the finite-element method (FEM) for the analysis of a temporary residential floor prototype composed of three jointed composite floor sandwich panels made of glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) skins, a polyurethane foam core (PU), and pultruded U-shaped GFRP profiles used as ribs. Panels are supported on a GFRP pultruded frame structure. A three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear finite-element approach was adopted considering geometric and material nonlinearities and adherent surfaces interaction. The numerical simulations were coherently validated with experimental results, showing their ability to capture the mechanical performance of a single panel (which includes the possibility of local instability on the GFRP skin), two and three panels working together, and the whole prototype. A series of parametric studies was conducted using the adopted numerical model in order to assess (1) the influence of the ribs on the panel stiffness and on the shear stresses distribution through the sandwich panel’s components, (2) the flexibility of the designed connections between jointed panels and frame structure, and (3) the influence of geometry in the modular housing.
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 ALTO—Perfis Pultrudidos, 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 ALTO—Perfis Pultrudidos, who manufactured all the elements (GFRP profiles and sandwich panels) involved in the research. The numerical simulations were performed in collaboration with the Department of Construction Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de València.
References
ABAQUS. 2012. Abaqus analysis user’s manual: 6.12. Providence, RI : Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp.
Abdolpour, H. 2017. “Development of prefabricated modular houses in pure composite sandwich panels.” Ph.D. dissertation. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Minho.
Abdolpour, H., G. Escusa, J. M. Sena-Cruz, I. B. Valente, and J. A. O. Barros. 2017a. “Axial performance of jointed sandwich wall panels.” J. Compos. Constr. 21 (4): 04017009. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CC.1943-5614.0000785.
Abdolpour, H., J. Garzón-Roca, G. Escusa, J. M. Sena-Cruz, J. A. Barros, and I. B. Valente. 2018a. “Composite modular floor prototype for emergency housing applications: Experimental and analytical approach.” J. Compos. Mater. 52 (13): 1747–1764. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998317733318.
Abdolpour, H., J. Garzón-Roca, G. Escusa, J. M. Sena-Cruz, J. A. O. Barros, and I. B. Valente. 2016. “ Development of a composite prototype with GFRP profiles and sandwich panels used as a floor module of an emergency house.” Compos. Struct. 153 ( Oct ): 81 – 95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.05.069.
Abdolpour, H., J. Garzón-Roca, G. Escusa, J. M. Sena-Cruz, J. A. O. Barros, and I. B. Valente. 2017b. “Composite modular floor prototype for emergency housing applications: Experimental and analytical approach.” J. Compos. Mater. 52 (13): 1747–1764. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998317733318.
Abdolpour, H., J. Garzón-Roca, and P. H. Mameghani. 2018b. “Increasing flexural performance of hybrid sandwich panels by using strain hardening cementitious base composite and glass fiber-reinforced polymer.” J. Compos. Mater. 53 (1): 19–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998318780206.
Abdolpour, H., Z. Zamanzadeh, and A. Behravesh. 2009. “Estimation of statically equivalent seismic forces of single layer reticular domes.” In Opportunities and solutions in structural engineering and construction. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Allen, G. H. 1969. Analysis and design of structural sandwich panels. New York : Pergamon.
ASTM. 2000. Standard test method for flexural properties of sandwich constructions. ASTM C393. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Awad, Z. K., T. Aravinthan, and Y. Zhuge. 2012. “ Experimental and numerical analysis of an innovative GFRP sandwich floor panel under point load.” Eng. Struct. 41 ( Aug ): 126 – 135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2012.03.023.
Belouettar, S., A. Abbadi, Z. Azari, R. Belouettar, and P. Freres. 2009. “ Experimental investigation of static and fatigue behaviour of composites honeycomb materials using four point bending tests.” Compos. Struct. 87 ( 3 ): 265 – 273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2008.01.015.
Bowie, O. L. 1964. “ Rectangular tensile sheet with symmetric edge cracks.” J. Appl. Mech. 31 ( 2 ): 208 – 2012.
Carlsson, L. A., and G. A. Kardomateas. 2011. Structural and failure mechanics of sandwich composites. New York : Springer.
CEN (European Committee for Standardization). 1990. Eurocode 0: Basis of structural design. Brussels, Belgium: CEN.
Correia, J. R., M. Garrido, J. A. Gonilha, F. A. Branco, and L. G. Reis. 2012. “ GFRP sandwich panels with PU foam and PP honeycomb cores for civil engineering structural applications: Effects of introducing strengthening ribs.” Int. J. Struct. Integr. 3 ( 2 ): 127 – 147. https://doi.org/10.1108/17579861211235165.
D’Alessandro, V., G. Petrone, F. Franco, and S. De Rosa. 2013. “ A review of the vibroacoustics of sandwich panels: Models and experiments.” J. Sandwich Struct. Mater. 15 ( 5 ): 541 – 582. https://doi.org/10.1177/1099636213490588.
Davies, J. M. 2001. Lightweight sandwich construction. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley.
del Coz Díaz, J. J., P. J. García Nieto, F. P. Álvarez Rabanal, and C. Betegón Biempica. 2008. “ Finite element analysis of thin-walled composite two-span wood-based loadbearing stressed skin roof panels and experimental validation.” Thin Walled Struct. 46 ( 3 ): 276 – 289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2007.07.020.
Deshpande, V. S., and N. A. Fleck. 2000. “ Isotropic constitutive models for metallic foams.” J. Mech. Phys. Solids 48 ( 6–7 ): 1253 – 1283. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5096(99)00082-4.
Fam, A., and T. Sharaf. 2010. “ Flexural performance of sandwich panels comprising polyurethane core and GFRP skins and ribs of various configurations.” Compos. Struct. 92 ( 12 ): 2927 – 2935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2010.05.004.
Ferreira, A. J. M., J. A. O. Barros, and A. T. Marques. 1991. “Finite element analysis of sandwich structures.” In Composite structures. Dordrecht: Springer.
Garrido, M., J. R. Correia, T. Keller, and F. A. Branco. 2015. “ Adhesively bonded connections between composite sandwich floor panels for building rehabilitation.” Compos. Struct. 134 ( Dec ): 255 – 268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.08.080.
Ha, K. H. 1990. “ Finite element analysis of sandwich plates: An overview.” Comput. Struct. 37 ( 4 ): 397 – 403. https://doi.org/10.1016/0045-7949(90)90028-Z.
Hou, S., C. Shu, S. Zhao, T. Liu, X. Han, and Q. Li. 2015. “ Experimental and numerical studies on multi-layered corrugated sandwich panels under crushing loading.” Compos. Struct. 126 ( Aug ): 371 – 385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.02.039.
Keller, T., C. Haas, and T. Valĺe. 2008. “ Structural concept, design, and experimental verification of a glass fiber-reinforced polymer sandwich roof structure.” J. Compos. Constr. 12 ( 4 ): 454 – 468. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0268(2008)12:4(454).
Keller, T., J. Rothe, J. de Castro, and M. Osei-Antwi. 2014. “ GFRP-balsa sandwich bridge deck: Concept, design, and experimental validation.” J. Compos. Constr. 18 ( 2 ): 04013043. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CC.1943-5614.0000423.
Liu, Z., P. Majumdar, T. Cousins, and J. Lesko. 2008. “ Development and evaluation of an adhesively bonded panel-to-panel joint for a FRP bridge deck system.” J. Compos. Constr. 12 ( 2 ): 224 – 233. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0268(2008)12:2(224).
Mara, V., M. Al-Emrani, and R. Haghani. 2014. “ Novel connection for fibre reinforced polymer bridge decks: Conceptual design and experimental investigation.” Compos. Struct. 117 ( Nov ): 83 – 97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2014.06.020.
Mitra, N., and B. R. Raja. 2012. “ Improving delamination resistance capacity of sandwich composite columns with initial face/core debond.” Composites Part B 43 ( 3 ): 1604 – 1612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2011.11.039.
Mostafa, A., K. Shankar, and E. V. Morozov. 2015. “ Behaviour of PU-foam/glass-fibre composite sandwich panels under flexural static load.” Mater. Struct. 48 ( 5 ): 1545 – 1559. https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-014-0253-3.
Mousa, M. A., and N. Uddin. 2011a. “Flexural behavior of full-scale composite structural insulated floor panels.” Adv. Compos. Mater. 20 (6): 547–567. https://doi.org/10.1163/156855111X610208.
Mousa, M. A., and N. Uddin. 2011b. “Global buckling of composite structural insulated wall panels.” Mater. Des. 32 (2): 766–772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2010.07.026.
National Research Council. 2008. Guide for the design and construction of structures made of FRP pultruded elements. Rome: National Research Council.
Pelletier, J. L., and S. S. Vel. 2006. “ Multi-objective optimization of fiber reinforced composite laminates for strength, stiffness and minimal mass.” Comput. Struct. 84 ( 29–30 ): 2065 – 2080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2006.06.001.
Russo, A., and B. Zuccarello. 2007. “ Experimental and numerical evaluation of the mechanical behaviour of GFRP sandwich panels.” Compos. Struct. 81 ( 4 ): 575 – 586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2006.10.007.
Sharaf, T., W. Shawkat, and A. Fam. 2010. “ Structural performance of sandwich wall panels with different foam core densities in one-way bending.” J. Compos. Mater. 44 ( 19 ): 2249 – 2263. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998310369577.
Shawkat, W., H. Honickman, and A. Fam. 2008. “ Investigation of a novel composite cladding wall panel in flexure.” J. Compos. Mater. 42 ( 3 ): 315 – 330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998307087965.
Thomsen, O. T. 1993. “ Analysis of local bending effects in sandwich plates with orthotropic face layers subjected to localised loads.” Compos. Struct. 25 ( 1 ): 511 – 520. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-8223(93)90199-Z.
Turner, M. K., K. A. Harries, M. F. Petrou, and D. Rizos. 2004. “ In situ structural evaluation of a GFRP bridge deck system.” Compos. Struct. 65 ( 2 ): 157 – 165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2003.10.011.
Tuwair, H., M. Hopkins, J. Volz, M. A. ElGawady, M. Mohamed, K. Chandrashekhara, and V. Birman. 2015. “ Evaluation of sandwich panels with various polyurethane foam-cores and ribs.” Composites Part B 79 ( Sep ): 262 – 276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2015.04.023.
Veljkovic, M., and B. Johansson. 2006. “ Light steel framing for residential buildings.” Thin Walled Struct. 44 ( 12 ): 1272 – 1279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2007.01.006.
Wang, W. 2004. “Cohesive zone model for facesheet-core interface delamination in honeycomb FRP sandwich panels.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, West Virginia Univ.
Zenkert, D. 1997. The handbook of sandwich construction. London : Chameleon.
Zhou, A., and T. Keller. 2005. “ Joining techniques for fiber reinforced polymer composite bridge deck systems.” Compos. Struct. 69 ( 3 ): 336 – 345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2004.07.016.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 1 • January 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 4, 2018
Accepted: Apr 29, 2019
Published online: Oct 29, 2019
Published in print: Jan 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Mar 29, 2020
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.