Experimental study on rotational restraint provided by sandwich panels at elevated temperature

Abstract

AbstractBy the wider spread of sandwich panels as a cladding system on industrial steel buildings, the research on various design aspects is evolving as well. The principal aim of the research introduced in this paper is to study the rotational restraint provided by sandwich panels at both ambient and elevated temperatures, and derive the temperature dependent rotational spring stiffnesses. In the frame of an ongoing international RFCS research program named STABFI, several experimental test series were carried out. This paper has a main focus on the part of the small scale tests, in which the rotational behavior of the screwed connection between sandwich panels with mineral wool core and H‐beam was investigated. The panel‐substructure connections were tested to define rotational stiffness at different inner panel sheet temperatures (20, 200, 250, 300, 450 and 600 C°). During testing the temperature of the inner sheet, the outer sheet, and the core of the sandwich panel were recorded. The applied torsional load at the axis of the connection and the rotation was measured and recorded, from which the moment‐rotation diagrams of the joints were derived. Based on these curves the temperature dependent rotational spring stiffnesses were also determined.