Numerical and experimental study on mechanical properties of glass fiber-reinforced polymer sandwich structure with polyurethane foam-filled M-shaped core

Truss-like core sandwich panels made of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite are extensively exploited in numerous industrial and non-industrial applications. Most of the time, these structures are exposed to extreme and heavy loads and damaged. Therefore, the mechanical properties of composite sandwich structures are important issue that should be addressed by engineers. For this purpose, the mechanical properties of a GFRP composite sandwich structures with polyurethane foam-filled M-shaped core are numerically and experimentally determined in this research. The sandwich panels manufactured for this study are composed of GFRP as fibers and resin epoxy as matrix material. In order to determine the bending and compressive response of the GFRP composite structures, three-point bending and compression tests are performed using a SANTM ATM-140 universal testing machine. A finite element method is developed to validate the precision of the experimental results. It is recognized that the finite element data are in remarkably great agreement with those obtained by experimental tests. Hence, the finite element analysis and experiment method could be utilized to predict the mechanical properties of the GFRP composite sandwich panels.

Automated summary

In this study, the mechanical properties of GFRP composite sandwich structures with polyurethane foam-filled M-shaped core were determined through numerical and experimental testing. The results showed good agreement between experimental and finite element analysis data, validating the use of finite element analysis to predict the mechanical properties of these sandwich panels.