STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE SANDWICH PANEL USING A FOAM CORE: FLEXURAL INVESTIGATION AND PREDICTION

Abstract

The precast concrete sandwich panel made of foam core and fiber reinforced concrete wythes is the innovative lightweight construction material which has advantage over the conventional concrete panel based on its strength to weight ratio. In this research, the simple production method was introduced to improve the constructability of the precast concrete sandwich panel. The shear tests were performed on 5 cm-cubic specimens with foam in one half and concrete in the other half to investigate their bonding resistance. The 3-point flexural tests were conducted on precast concrete sandwich panels with the dimensions of 30 cm x 10 cm x 120 cm. Three parameters, including connection types, thickness of foam and FRC layers, and volume fraction of steel fiber, on their flexural strength and stiffness were studied. Based on the test results, it was found that all three parameters affected the flexural strength and stiffness of the sandwich panels. Their thickness of FRC layers influenced both of their flexural strength and stiffness before and after the first crack. Their connection type affected only their stiffness before and after the first crack, whereas their volume fraction of steel fiber mainly affected their flexural strength and stiffness only after the first crack. Moreover, the flexural failure caused by major crack at the mid-span area was found in all tested sandwich panels.