Sandwich panels

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of structural sandwich panels as the cladding of buildings and a good deal of research and development has been carried out. This paper reviews the state of the art with regard to the structural design of elements consisting of two thin metal faces separated by a lightweight core. Various aspects are discussed but two are given particular attention, namely methods of global analysis and the local buckling of compressed face elements. The analysis of sandwich panels under all possible loading and boundary conditions no longer poses any problem. Classical solutions, approximate solutions and numerical methods such as finite elements all have their place and are reviewed in detail. Local buckling phenomena in sandwich elements are similar to those in other thin-walled metal elements with the added consideration that buckling is resisted by the core material. This leads to some quite complex analysis which requires simplification for practical design. The paper includes a useful bibliography of recent references.