Study on manufacturing process and load-bearing capacity of innovative GFRP composite sandwich panels with connecting grooves

Abstract

Composite sandwich panels have been widely utilized in various fields, including civil engineering, wind turbine blades, and transportation engineering, due to their lightweight, high strength, corrosion resistance, and exceptional thermal and damping properties. This paper introduces a novel wood-core composite sandwich panel produced through pultrusion. It features connection grooves designed to fulfill lateral connection requirements. The production of this innovative composite sandwich panel has been completed. The bending load-bearing capacity of this panel is comprehensively studied through theoretical analysis, and a modeling approach utilizing the general finite element software ANSYS is introduced. Ultimately, the efficacy of both theoretical methods and finite element simulations is verified through rigorous experiments. The research findings presented in this paper are highly significant for optimizing the design and manufacturing of composite sandwich panels, ultimately enhancing their utilization in rail transit vehicles and other industries.