ANALYSIS AND BEHAVIOUR OF A COMPOSITE SANDWICH PANEL FOR ROOF CLADDINGS

Abstract

Sandwich panels are layered constructions consisting of dissimilar materials assembled so as to utilize the properties of each to attain functional and structural efficiency for the assembly. An experimental prototype sandwich panel made of bitumen impregnated glass mat as upper facing, polyurethane foam core and a bottom facing made of a galvanized cold formed steel sheet has been manufactured and tested at the Department of Civil Engineering of the Technical University of Iasi. The test specimen, a composite sandwich panel 6000mm long and 630mm wide, has been tested under gravity uniformly distributed transverse loads to check its suitability as roof cladding. An appropriate bending stiffness formula has been selected by the authors to determine the values of theoretical deflections and the measured deflections are in good agreement with the theoretical ones.