Shear Strength of Sandwich Panel Systems

Abstract

The use of sandwich panels as roof and wall claddings has increased considerably in recent times. For the designers to take advantage of the diaphragm action of stronger sandwich panel systems under in-plane shear forces due to wind loading, appropriate data on shear strength and stiffness of these systems is required. An experimental investigation was therefore conducted to investigate the shear behaviour of commonly used crest-fixed sandwich panel systems. An improved fastening system was developed which resulted in approximately 2.5 times greater shear strength, and improved ductility. Shear strength and stiffness data were developed for sandwich panel systems with the improved fastening system for varying aspect ratio. Analytical formulae were also developed to predict the shear strength of sandwich panel systems using the basic tearing loads obtained from simple connection tests. This paper presents the details of both experimental and analytical studies on the shear behaviour of sandwich panel systems and the results.