Structural Performance of Sandwich Wall Panels with Different Foam Core Densities in One-way Bending

Abstract

The flexural behavior of a new sandwich panel proposed for cladding of buildings is studied. The panel is fabricated by laminating two glass fiber-reinforced polymer skins to a prefabricated polyurethane foam core. Two different densities for the core are explored, namely; a 0.31 kN/m3, referred to herein as ‘soft’ foam, and a 0.63 kN/m3, referred to as ‘hard’ foam. Ten 1500 × 300 × 76 mm3 panels were tested in flexure. For each core density, three similar panels were tested to establish the reproducibility of test results as a measure of quality control of fabrication. The panels were tested in three-point and four-point bending as well as under uniform load. The effect of wind pressure and suction was simulated for some panels by applying cyclic bending. It was shown that flexural strength and stiffness increased substantially, by 165% and 113%, respectively, as the core density was doubled. The contributions of shear deformation of the soft and hard cores to mid-span deflection were 75% and 50%, respectively. Panels with soft cores were vulnerable to localized effects under concentrated loads, and suffered inwards wrinkling of the compression skin at a lower ultimate strength. Low cycle fatigue resulted in some residual deflection upon unloading but insignificant stiffness degradation.