In-plane behavior of sandwich roof panels

Sandwich panels are commonly used as roof and façade claddings especially for the industrial type buildings due to their insulation talent provided by the core material and easy mounting process. Several experimental researches exist in the literature aimed to determine out-of-plane behavior of sandwich panels. The observations made after some earthquakes reveal that in-plane stiffness of sandwich panels may affect the global behavior of the structure by generating partial or full diaphragm action. An experimental campaign has been initiated to determine in-plane behavior of sandwich panels. Full scale sandwich panels fastened to RC purlins are tested in a special testing set-up. Basic variables of the study are loading direction, the fastener configuration and rib numbers in the cross-section of sandwich panels. Lateral displacement increments are applied to the specimens and quite a lot of measurements are performed on the specimens. The experimental study results that in-plane behavior of the sandwich panels is controlled by the fastener configuration. The conceivable failure mechanism is tearing of thin external faces of the panels.