Research on the bending behavior of GFRP sandwich panels with stitch insertions

Abstract: This paper presents the details of a research program that was conducted to evaluate the one-way bending behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) sandwich panels. The panels consist of GFRP skins with a foam core and through-height fiber insertions. An experimental study were carried out to study the effect of the skin thickness and different insertion layouts. The results demonstrate that compared to the only foam-core sandwich panels, an obvious increase in the ultimate capacity can be achieved. Meanwhile, the bending stiffness and energy dissipation can be enhanced respectively. The finite element analysis was conducted to simulate the bending behavior considering the bond performance of the face sheets and foam core.