Experimental Study: The Behavior of Pre-cast Normal-Light-Normal Weight Concrete Sandwich Panels Under Lateral In-Plane Loading
Experimental research was carried out for seven concrete sandwich panels. This research was conducted to study the behavior of normal-light-normal weight concrete sandwich panels under lateral in-plane loadings. The dimension of the panels was 800 mm in length by 120 mm in width by 800 mm in height leading to the ratio of the height to the length (hw/lw) equals to one assuring that the collapse mechanism is a shear type of failure. The variables of the tests were the steel reinforcement spacing at the outer concrete lamina, and thickness of each concrete lamina of the sandwich concrete panels. The result of the tests was presented in form of crack patterns and the relationship between load and lateral deformation. It was found that the reinforcement spacing at the outer concrete lamina has significant effect on the crack pattern of interface concrete lamina and ductility of the sandwich panels. At the interface of the concrete lamina, the wider the steel reinforcement spacing the closer the space among diagonal cracks is developed. In addition to that, the closer the steel reinforcement spacing the higher the ductility of the sandwich panel was observed. The result also showed that 1% of reinforcement index at the outer concrete layers will lead the highest strength of the sandwich panel. The results also showed that the value of the stiffness of the normal-light-normal weight concrete sandwich panel specimens was four times higher than the stiffness of the lightweight concrete solid panel specimen.