Behaviour of innovative fibre composite sandwich panels under point loading

Abstract

Sandwich composites are widely used in various industries such as aeronautical, mechanical, automotive, marine and others. However, most of the existing sandwiches are not suitable and cost effective for applications in civil infrastructure. An innovative fibre composite sandwich panel made of glass fibre reinforced skins and a high strength core material has been developed for building and other structural applications. The behaviour of this new generation sandwich panel has been studied to assist the technical persons and the construction crews in better understanding its properties for an efficient use. If a fibre composite sandwich panel is placed not in the main fibre direction, an adverse effect on its performance may occur. Also, the point load is critical because the load creates stress concentration, which can easily damage the sandwich panel. This paper discusses the initial experimental investigation on this innovative sandwich for its one and two-way spanning floor applications under point loading. Initial investigation has shown that the stiffness of the sandwich is affected by the fibre orientation of the sandwich skins. No much effect has been observed for variation of fixity between slab and joist.