Structural Behavior of Composite Sandwich Panel with High Performance Expanded Polystyrene Concrete

Abstract

Use of lightweight concrete has become increasingly popular in modern construction to take advantage of lower density results in a benefit in terms of load-bearing elements of smaller cross sections, and a reduction in self-weight. The light-weight concrete is also applied for a core material of composite sandwich structure. The composite sandwich structures are being used widely in weight sensitive structures where high flexural rigidity is required because of the high-specific strength, stiffness, the lightness, the high thermal insulation and the possibility of producing complex geometries. However, the lack of dependable technical information and guideline for composite sandwich panels make it difficult to apply them in reality. To investigate the mechanical properties of HPEPC, the compressive strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity and Poissons ratio were measured in various density depend on EPS bead contents. As the EPS bead content decreases, strength and elastic modulus increase. The HPEPC has better mechanical properties than EPS mortar with about 6.6 times higher compressive strength than EPS mortar. Comparing the experimental results with the estimated formulas of the ACI standard, the elastic modulus of HPEPC can be predicted very well. The structural behavior of composite sandwich panels has been empirically analyzed using different combinations of cores, face sheets, and adhesive materials. The behavior depends on the core and the skin material. The HPEPC, which has much higher strength and lower thermal conductivity, is superior to EPS mortar as a core material. Test specimens composed of HPEPC cores and skins made of UHPC and GFRP meshes with adhesive mortar demonstrated the ideal behavior when it failed due to flexural strength. The results are compared with the result values obtained from the estimation formula, and the theoretical predictions of the failure load are in good agreement with the experimental results.