Shear behaviour of glued structural fibre composite sandwich beams

The shear behaviour of structural sandwich beams made by gluing together fibre composite sandwich panels in the flatwise and in the edgewise positions was investigated with a view of using this material for construction and building applications. The effect of the number and orientation of sandwich laminations on the shear strength and failure behaviour of glued sandwich beams is examined using an asymmetrical beam shear test. The results showed that the behaviour of the glued sandwich beams in the flatwise position is governed by the shear strength of the core while in the edgewise position by the shear strength of the skin. In the edgewise position, the skin carries almost 60% of the load but only 20% in the flatwise position. With increasing sandwich laminations, the glued sandwich beams in the edgewise position achieved over 200% shear strength than beams in the flatwise position. The presence of vertical fibre composite skins has resulted in a more ductile failure behaviour for beams in the edgewise position. The results of the theoretical and numerical evaluations on the shear strength of the glued sandwich beams using the shear properties of the skin and the core were in good agreement with the experimental results.