Abstract
The traditional composite sandwich structures have disadvantages of low shear modulus and large deformation when used in civil engineering applications. To overcome these problems, this paper proposed a novel composite sandwich panel with upper and lower GFRP skins and a hybrid polyurethane (PU) foam core (GHP panels). The hybrid core is composed of different densities (150, 250, and 350 kg/m3) of the foam core which is divided functionally by horizontal GFRP ribs. The hard core is placed in the compression area to resist compressive strength and improve the stiffness of the composite sandwich structure, while the soft core is placed in the tension area. Six GHP panels were tested loaded in 4-point bending to study the effect of horizontal ribs and hybrid core configurations on the stiffness, strength, and failure modes of GHP panels. Experimental results show that compared to the control panel, a maximum of 54.6% and 50% increase in the strength and bending stiffness can be achieved, respectively. GHP panels with the hybrid PU foam core show obvious secondary stiffness. Finally, analytical methods were proposed to predict the initial stiffness and peak load of the GHP panels, and the results agree well with experimental results.
Highlights
Composite sandwich panels with two high stiffness skins and a middle light core are increasingly applied in civil engineering applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Sharaf et al [10] researched the flexural properties of ten sandwich panels, and the results showed that the shape and density of the sandwich plate play an important role in the failure mode, load bearing capacity, and stiffness of the panel
Failure Mechanism. e sample failures can be divided into two main types: (1) completely core shear failure: the panels lost their bearing capacity completely when the foam core shear failure happened, which occurred in the control specimen (see Figures 3(a)–3(c)); (2) core shear failure occurred step by step
Summary
Composite sandwich panels with two high stiffness skins and a middle light core are increasingly applied in civil engineering applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]. In order to Advances in Civil Engineering further increase the stiffness and the final bearing strength of sandwich structures, authors have developed a novel composite sandwich panel with GFRP skins, lattice ribs, and a PU foam core. Is paper detailed analysis of the flexural properties of the composite sandwich panel (GHP panels) with GFRP skins and a hybrid PU foam core (Figure 1). E hybrid PU foam core with different densities (150, 250, and 350 kg/m3) is divided functionally by horizontal GFRP ribs. Specimen GHP-CON, a controlled sandwich panel, is composed of GFRP skins and a 150 kg/m3 density PU foam core. Specimens GHP1-1 and GHP-2-1 were fabricated with horizontal ribs and with a kind of 150 kg/m3 density PU foam core to evaluate the bending properties of sandwich panels with different spaces of horizontal ribs. E resistance distortion meter is applied to the upper and lower sides to test the longitudinal tension and compression strain of GFRP materials
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