Flexural behaviour of sandwich floor assembly

A half scale floor assembly of sandwich construction complete with supporting walls was tested. The panels comprise 2 aluminium facings of 0.025 in.thick (0.64 mm) and polystyrene core of 2 in.thick (50 mm). The model was subjected to static loading of up to 110 psf (5260 N/m²) and linear behaviour was observed throughout the loading range. Under load of 40 psf (1915 N/m²) the maximum floor deflection was only $\text{1}\text{1300}$ of the span. It is concluded that deflection requirement can be easily met by most sandwich construction with foamed core. Effects of shear deformations and of connection rigidity on the stresses and deflections are also studied. Predicted values found by finite element analysis compare favourably with experimental results.