Effect of Foam’s Heterogeneity on the Behaviour of Sandwich Panels

This study aimed to develop a knowledge about material parameters identification of the foam core and numerical modelling of the sandwich panels to accurately predict the behaviour of this kind of structures. The polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) with low density used in sandwich panels dedicated to civil engineering is examined in the paper. A series of experiments (tensile, compression and bending tests) were carried out to identify its mechanical parameters. To determine the heterogeneity of analysed foam a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique, named Aramis, is applied in the paper. The results obtained from FE analyses are compared with the experimental results on full-size plates carried out by the author and proper conclusions are drawn.