Experimental investigation of the buckling behaviour of textile reinforced cement sandwich panels with varying face thickness using Digital Image Correlation

Sandwich panels with Textile Reinforced Cement composite (TRC) faces are promising structural elements for construction, as both the structural and insulating performance are merged into one lightweight construction element. In the literature, extended research has been performed to understand the bending behaviour of TRC sandwich panels, yet research into their behaviour under axial loading is scarce. Therefore, axial compression tests on TRC sandwich panels were performed; varying parameters in the tests were the materials of the TRC faces and the face thickness. Comparisons of experimental results with analytical predictions gave insight into the effect of the face thickness on the loadbearing
and failure behaviour. For very thin faces the latter changed from global buckling of the sandwich panel towards wrinkling of the faces; both phenomena were clearly monitored by Digital Image Correlation. A good correlation between the analytical predictions and the experimental observations was obtained.