Influence of interfacial debonding on the nonlinear structural response of profiled metal-faced insulating sandwich panels

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of debonding at the sheet-foam interface on the local buckling (wrinkling) and failure load of profiled metal-faced insulating sandwich panels. Two modeling approaches are adopted and compared in the analysis including full 3D finite element analysis and a simplified finite element approach. The latter models the profiled face sheet only as a folded plate structure resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation and is only used to predict the local buckling load. The results show that the debonding of the top face sheet has a substantial influence on the local buckling capacity of the panel. Both approaches agreed well with a maximum difference of around 15 %. The full 3D Finite element analysis results show a significant reduction in the failure load of the panel due to debonding.