Use of Blind Rivets in Sandwich Panels—Experimental Investigation of Static and Quasi-Cyclic Loading

In this paper, we present an original experimental investigation on a pull-out test of a blind rivet from the external facing of sandwich panels with various core layer materials (polyisocyanurate foam, mineral wool, and expanded polystyrene). The blind rivets were subjected to an axial and eccentric tensile force introduced as static and quasi-cyclic loading. The statistical sample size was 5. The laboratory results depicted that the core layer of a sandwich panel influenced the load-displacement path of the investigated blind rivet connections, regardless of the nature of the load (static, quasi-cyclic) and the point of the load application (axial, eccentric). It was observed that the blind connection with the polyisocyanurate foam core sandwich panel was characterized by a reduction of both the capacity and the secant stiffness when compared with the blind connection with the mineral wool or the expanded polystyrene core sandwich panels. Moreover, the tested connections demonstrated that the eccentric load gave a higher flexural stiffness than the axial load and that the quasi-cyclic load did not reduce their stiffness and capacity.

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