Polymer Testing 104 (2021) 107401

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Polymer Testing
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/polytest

Experimental investigation of mechanical behaviors of EPS foamed

concrete-filled pultruded GFRP sandwich panels
Sensen Li a, d, He Wang d, Huguang He d, Yang Liu d, Hualin Fan a, b, c, *
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Nanyang, 473004, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China
c
China National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Materials under Shock and Impact, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
d
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Prevention & Mitigation of Explosion & Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, 210007, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Pultruded sandwich panels (PSPs) usually possess lightweight but high load-carrying ability. One of the short­
Foam filled pultruded sandwich panel coming is the low transverse shear resistance. To overcome this deficiency, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foamed
Testing concrete was designed, fabricated and filled into the web-core of the PSP. Flatwise compression experiments
Failure
were performed to reveal the mechanical behaviors of the EPS foamed concrete varying with the density.
Flexural experiments were conducted to reveal the flexural performances of the foam-filled PSPs, as well as the
failure patterns. The bending rigidity of the PSPs is increased from 0.28 kN/mm from unfilled to 9.5 kN/mm after
filling, and the bending rigidity of the PSPs is increased by 46.1 times. The load capacity of the PSPs is also
profoundly improved from 3.02 kN to 23.63 kN. The failure pattern of the foam-filled PSP transforms from core
shear failure, local indentation to mono-cell skin fracture when increasing the foam density.

1. Introduction
Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) pultruded sandwich panels
(PSPs) are lightweight, easily-made and low-cost composite structures
with relatively high bending strength and load carrying capacity. These
structures have been widely applied in civil engineering [1,2], such as
floor module of emergency house [3] and bridge decks [4]. However,
the PSP has an inevitable deficiency, i.e., the transverse shear resistance
is not high. Large shear deformation greatly weakens the bending ri­
gidity and the core shear failure greatly reduces the load carrying ca­
pacity [5]. Local deformation of the skin between two webs also
decreases the strength of the PSP [6].
Zhang et al. [7,8] applied GFRP PSPs to construct lightweight blast
resistant protective doors. They [7,8] observed that the main failure of
the PSP under explosion is the core-shear failure, which greatly cut
down the blast resistance of the all-composite protective door. It is very
important to improve the shear strength of the web-core.
Foamed concrete is a lightweight cellular material, possessing
excellent thermal insulation and energy absorption [9,10]. Increasing
the volume of expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles will increase the
thermal insulation performance of the foamed concrete, but increasing
the volume of EPS particles will reduce its compressive strength
[11–13]. Filling the foamed concrete into the sandwich panel can
greatly improve the core shear strength and change the mechanical
properties of the sandwich panel [14–16]. Not only that, the shock load
response of the sandwich panel filled with foam concrete can also be
greatly improved [17]. They can be used as wall panels [18].
In this research, EPS foamed concrete was filled into the PSP. The
mechanical performances of the EPS foamed concrete and the foam-
filled PSPs were investigated through experiments to reflect the
improvement effect on the mechanical properties of the PSP after filling
with EPS foam concrete.
2. Fabrication of foam-filled sandwich panel
2.1. GFRP pultruded sandwich panel
Structure of the pultruded GFRP fluted-core sandwich panel is shown
in Fig. 1 [7,8]. The GRFP PSP is orthotropic, and the mechanical prop­
erties acquired from the producer, Nanjing Spare Composites Co., LTD,
are listed in Table 1. The GFRP contains 46–47% E-glass yarns, 23–25%
E-glass mat, and 27–28% unsaturated polyester resin in weight percent,
respectively [7,8].
During manufacturing, the dried glass fiber is firstly arranged

* Corresponding author. Department of Civil Engineering, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Nanyang, 473004, China.
E-mail address: fhl15@nuaa.edu.cn (H. Fan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2021.107401
Received 13 July 2021; Received in revised form 12 October 2021; Accepted 27 October 2021
Available online 1 November 2021
0142-9418/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
S. Li et al. Polymer Testing 104 (2021) 107401

Fig. 1. Pultruded GFRP truss-core sandwich panel (Unit: mm) [7,8].

from 3 to 5 mm. Ordinary Portland cement with compressive strength of

Table 1
42.5 MPa was adopted, and the water cement ratio is 0.55.
Mechanical properties of the pultruded GFRP from the producer [7,8].
Property Units Value (Pultrusion direction/Crosswise)
2.3. Foam-filled sandwich panel
Tensile strength MPa 240/50
Tensile modulus GPa 23/7
Compressive strength MPa 240/70
The dimension of the PSP is 600 mm × 400 mm × 80 mm. To make
Compressive modulus GPa 23/7.5 the foam-filled PSP, cement were weighed according to the proportion,
Interlaminar shear MPa 25 and the volume of water and modified EPS particles were weighed
Shear modulus GPa 4 through a graduated cylinder firstly. Half of the weighed water was
Thermal Conductivity W/(m⋅K) 0.4
poured into the concrete mixer, and then cement and EPS particles were
Mass kg/m 14
added respectively. Finally, the other half of water was added to fully
mix to form EPS cement paste. The EPS particles and the mixture are
shown in Fig. 2(a). The compression properties of EPS foamed-concrete
Table 2
blocks are listed in Table 3.
Composition per cubic meter [15].
Before filling the PSP with EPS foamed concrete, a plywood with
Panel Foamed Modified EPS particles Cement Water dimension of 700 mm × 100 mm was bonded with modified acrylate
concrete (L) (kg) (kg)
adhesive around the end of one side of the hollow slab to avoid slurry
B1 None None None None leakage during filling. Then the PSP was placed on the vibration table,
B2 Type 1 840 110 60.5
and the prepared EPS foamed concrete was poured into the hollow core
B3 Type 2 840 180 99.0
B4 Type 3 840 250 137.5
until it was filled-up. When the EPS foamed concrete inside the PSP does
B5 Type 4 840 350 192.5 not sink, the first vibration was stopped. Then, the PSP was filled with
EPS foamed concrete for the second time to make it level with the sur­
face, and the EPS foamed concrete was vibrated for the second time to
according to the design specifications. The glass yarn is drawn by the ensure that the EPS concrete in the PSP is densely filled. Finally, the
tensioning equipment, and the glass yarn enters the glue tank to soak the third filling of EPS concrete was carried out. Through three fillings and
unsaturated polyester resin. Then the glass yarn is formed at a certain two vibrations, the compactness of PSP can be ensured without causing
speed through the prefabricated steel template at a curing temperature EPS concrete segregation [19]. The foam-filled panels were cured for
of 130 ◦ C. The cross-section of the PSP is seven chambers with a size of one month under room temperature. The cured panels and their labels
600 mm × 400 mm × 80 mm. The skin is 4 mm thick, while the web are displayed in Fig. 2(b) in details.
pillar is 3.5 mm thick. The PSP is pultruded through a pre-prepared mold
and cut into segments with 400 mm length. 3. Flexural performance of foamed filled PSPs

2.2. EPS foamed concrete 3.1. Testing method

The EPS foamed concrete is composed of EPS particles, water and
cement. In this research, four kinds of foam concrete were designed.
Composition of each EPS foamed concrete is listed in Table 2 in details.
Cement is an inorganic cementing material, and EPS particles are
organic materials. The fusion of the two materials is not good. The EPS
particles have the characteristics of lightweight and hydrophobicity. If
they are directly mixed with cement, they will float or adhere together,
resulting in segregation. The EPS particles were modified by special
coupling agent A01 to make them fully integrated with cement and
evenly distributed in the slurry. In this research, the particle size ranges
To check the strengthening effect, the flexural behaviors of foam-
filled PSPs were tested through three-point bending experiments, as
shown in Fig. 2(c). The testing standard refers to ASTMC393-00 [19,20].
The length of the panel is 600 mm. With cantilever length of 50 mm at
either end, the span is 500 mm with simply supported constraints. The
loading rate is 2 mm/min. Strain gauges were adhered on the upper and
lower skins at the quarter span and the lower skin at the mid-span. An
extensometer was placed below the lower skin at the middle span to
measure the mid-span deflection. The quarter-span deflections were also
measured.

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S. Li et al. Polymer Testing 104 (2021) 107401

Fig. 2. (a) EPS particles, (b) EPS foamed concrete filled PSPs and (c) three-point bending experiment.

concrete is dense enough, the shear deformation of the core is

Table 3 completely restrained. Local indentation is observed. In the second stage
Compression properties of EPS foamed-concrete blocks.
deformation, the load is slightly increased to 9 kN.
Block Density Compressive Mean Elastic Mean As shown in Fig. 3(c), filled-in type 3 EPS foamed concrete, the PSP
(kg/m3) strength (MPa) strength modulus modulus
still has two-stage deformation curve. As the foamed concrete is dense
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
enough, the shear deformation of the core is completely restrained.
1–1 152 0.069 0.071 2.094 2.533 Local indentation forms a plastic hinge at the mid-span and the defor­
1–2 154 0.075 3.136
1–3 152 0.07 2.369
mation curve has a atble eforamtion plateau. The stress level of the
2–1 266 0.323 0.309 12.311 13.478 plateau is close to 12 kN. As shown in the graphical abstract of Ref. [15,
2–2 254 0.313 17.164 21], filled-in type 4 EPS foamed concrete, the PSP only has linear
2–3 245 0.292 10.959 deformation. As the foamed concrete is the most dense in this research,
3–1 357 0.416 0.470 83.453 89.86
the shear deformation of the core and the local indentation are both
3–2 364 0.469 90.351
3–3 369 0.526 95.776 completely restrained. Flexural fracture of the upper skin was observed.
4–1 478 1.244 1.234 171.52 166.3 After the peak load, the fracture of the skin let the PSP gradually lose the
4–2 485 1.283 175.37 load carrying ability. The peak load in this case is close to 25 kN.
4–3 471 1.174 152.01 B1 and B2 have web-core shear failure, the deformation of the PSP is
large, and the difference in bearing capacity is not too large, indicating
3.2. Load-displacement curves that the filling of EPS foamed concrete with a lower density in the PSP is
unclear for improving the bearing capacity and resistance to deforma­
The mid-span load-displacement curves are displayed in Fig. 4, tion of the unfilled PSP. As shown in B3 and B4, as the filling density
where the displacemnt is located at the lower skin mearsured by increases, the support effect of the EPS foamed concrete on the PSP is
extensometer. From Fig. 3(a), it can be clearly found that the denser EPS improved and the deformation of the web is restrained. The load-bearing
foamed concrete filled PSP has greater bending stiffness and peak load, capacity of the PSP is significantly improved, and the overall deforma­
while the mid-span deflection is much smaller. As shown in the graph­ tion of the PSP is gradually reduced.
ical abstract of Ref. [15,21], the unfilled PSP has two-stage deformation Except for B5, other PSPs have secondary stiffness, which is much
curve. After initial linear deformation, the severe shear deformation of smaller than the elastic stiffness or even close to zero. So they have much
the web-core produces large nonlinear defromation. But the load greater mid-span deflections. When the B5 reached the maximum load,
increses continuously from 2 kN to over 3 kN. the upper skin was torn and the load suddenly dropped. B5 keeps the
As shown in Fig. 3(b), filled-in type 1 EPS foamed concrete, the PSP stiffness unchanged till failure and its final deflection is much smaller, so
still has two-stage deformation curve, but the shear deformation of the the B5 has only one stiffness. After filling type 4 EPS foam concrete, the
core is greatly restrained. After initial linear deformation, the reduced strength of the upper skin is fully utilized. The bearing capacity of B5 is
shear deformation of the foam-filled web-core produces nonlinear much stronger than other types of panels.
defroamtion. The load increases from 3.5 kN to over 6 kN. As shown in The changes in peak load and stiffness with PSP density are clearly
the graphical abstract of Ref. [15,21], filled-in type 2 EPS foamed con­ shown in Table 4. By filling higher density EPS foam concrete, the peak
crete, the PSP still has three-stage deformation curve. As the foamed load and stiffness of the PSP can be significantly improved. The bending

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S. Li et al. Polymer Testing 104 (2021) 107401

Fig. 3. Three-point bending experiments and load-displacement curves of (a) PSPs, (b) B2, and (f) B4. Load-deflection curves of B1, B3 and B5 can be seen in the
graphical abstract of Ref. [15,21].

rigidity of the panels is increased from 0.28 kN/mm from unfilled to 9.5
kN/mm after filling, and the bending rigidity of the PSPs is increased by
46.1 times. The failure style also changes from core-shear failure, loacal
indentation and skin fracture. Only when the PSP fails at skin fracture,
the lightweight advantage of the composite sandwich beam can be fully
realized.
3.3. Failure styles
The failure patterns of the PSPs are cleary shown in Fig. 4(a)-4(e).
The failure of the empty PSP is controled by the shear failure of the web-
core. Filled-in foamed concrete, the shear resistance of the web-core is
enhanced and the failure is transfromed from core shear failure, local
indentation, plastic hinge defroamtion and skin fracture, accomapnying
with the increase of the density of the foamed concrete. The PSPs are
made with GFRP, which is an elastic material. When unloaded, the
deformation of the PSP will be partly restored, as shown in Fig. 4(f).
Shear deformation of B1 and B2 is almost completely restored. Residual
flexural deformation is still quite clear. Skin fracture, indentation and
shear failure are still clearly visible.
4. Conclusions
In this research, GFRP PSPs were filled with EPS foamed concrete to
increase the shear resistance. Through the experiments, it is found that
the shear stiffness of the PSP is profoundly improved by EPS foamed
concrete when the density of foamed concrete is 478 kg/m3. The
equivalent shear modulus is improved from 1.194 MPs of the empty
web-core to 41.23 MPa of foam filled web-core. In bending, the bending
rigidity is improved from 0.28 kN/mm of un-filled PSP to 9.5 kN/mm of
foam filled PSP.
The EPS foamed concrete also greatly changes the flexural failure
pattern and the load capacity of the PSP. The failure pattern changes
from the core shear failure of un-filled PSP to local indentation and skin
fracture of foam filled PSPs. The load capacity is profoundly enhanced
from 3.02 kN of un-filled PSP to 23.63 kN of foam-filled PSP. EPS
foamed concrete filling can greatly improve the utility of the strength of
the GFRP. In practical applications, the load-bearing capacity of PSPs
can be improved by filling EPS foam concrete with different densities, so
that it can meet the design load.
Credit author statement
Sensen Li: Data Curation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Writing-
Original draft preparation.
He Wang: Data Curation; Investigation.
Huguang He: Data Curation; Investigation.
Yang Liu: Data Curation; Investigation.
Hualin Fan: Conceptualization; Methodology; Supervision; Writing-
Original draft preparation; Writing- Reviewing and Editing; Funding
acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.

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S. Li et al. Polymer Testing 104 (2021) 107401

Fig. 4. Failure process of EPS foam concrete filled PSP(A is the inflection point of the elastic section, B is the maximum load, C is the final destruction diagram): (a)
web-core shear failure of B1, (b) foamed web-core shear failure of B2, (c) local indentation of B3, (d) local indentation of B4 and (e) skin fracture of B5 and (f) shapes
of unloaded foam-filled PSPs.

Acknowledgements
Table 4
Mechanical properites of EPS concrete foam fiilled sandwich panels. Supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China
Panel Weight Peak Mean Rigidity Mean Failure Styles (11972184), and China National Key Laboratory Foundation of Science
(kg/m3) force (kN) (kN/mm) (kN/ and Technology on Materials under Shock and Impact
(kN) mm)
(6142902200203) are gratefully acknowledged.
B1-1 292.4 3.39 3.02 0.30 0.28 Web-core
B1-2 292.2 2.64 0.25 shear failure References
B2-1 414.1 5.98 5.66 0.32 0.32 Foamed web-
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