ISSN: 0090-3973
Page Count: 8

Testing of Sandwich Panels Under Uniform Pressure
Wennhage, P
Research assistant and senior lecturer, Division of Lightweight Structures, Royal Institute of Technology,

Zenkert, D
Research assistant and senior lecturer, Division of Lightweight Structures, Royal Institute of Technology,

(Received 16 October 1996; accepted 15 April 1997)

Abstract

The properties of a testing device for transverse loading of simply supported sandwich panels using a uniformly distributed load are investigated. Differences between hard and soft simply supported boundary conditions are verified. Shear stream gages are used to measure the shear stress in the core of the sandwich. The deflection, strains on the upper face, and the load distribution and measured on an isotropic sandwich panel and the same properties are calculated using an analytical method and a finite-element method (FEM). The boundary conditions are investigated by letting the FEM program calculate the solution for both soft and hard simply supported boundaries. The results show that the type of simply supported boundary conditions has a considerable effect on the solution. It is shown that the test panel used in this research better represents the soft boundary conditions. It is noted that the pressure can vary substantially close to the corners of the panel but is uniformly distributed over the central part of the panel.

Keywords:
panel testing, sandwich, uniformly distributed load, shear strain gage, hard and soft boundary conditions

Paper ID: JTE11979J
DOI: 10.1520/JTE11979J
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