Behaviour of Innovative Concrete Sandwich Panels with Pervious Concrete Core under Flexural Bending

Research studies investigating the possibility of using new core material (other than polystyrene) in concrete sandwich panels are being reported in the literature. In this paper, lightweight pervious concrete core is proposed as a new alternative. In this paper, the flexural behaviour of concrete sandwich panels with pervious concrete core is investigated under three-point and four-point bending conditions. The geometrical variables considered are core thickness and number of shear connector lines. Test results showed that, sandwich panels without shear connector trusses failed due to separation of wythes, and the panels with shear connector trusses achieved composite action. The variables considered were found to influence the initial stiffness, cracking moment, ultimate moment, load-deflection behaviour and load-strain behaviour of the panels. Analytical study indicated that the equation given in ACI 318 underestimated the strength of the tested panels. The equation have to be modified by explicitly including the shear connector details in the equation for predicting the flexural strength with reasonable accuracy. Further experimental and analytical studies on prototype concrete sandwich panels with pervious concrete core produced using lightweight aggregates are required in view of developing design guidelines for practical applications.