DEVELOPMENT OF CFRP SANDWICH PANEL ROOF

Abstract

The monocoque sandwich panel roof has been developed. The production process is called VARTM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding). The panel is composed of two facings with CFRP skin, core between the facings with phenol foam and ribs connecting the facings with GFRP. Experiments were conducted on the flat panel elements and the full-scale U-shaped shell. The experiments verified that local buckling (wrinkling) of facing was critical and the structural behavior was elastic till the local buckling was occured. Based on the experiments, the strengths and the safety factors for design were decided. The CFRP sandwich shells were applied to some gymnasium roofs.