Experimental Investigation of the Failure Scenario of Various Connection Types between Thin-Walled Beam and Sandwich Panel

The paper presents failure scenarios for various types of connections between a thin-walled beam and a sandwich panel. In addition to standard connections used in civil engineering applications, that is, self-drilling fasteners for sandwich panels, the study examined the use of bolts, blind rivets, and double-sided acrylic tape applied linearly and pointwise. The connections were subjected to the horizontal load applied with constant eccentricity with respect to the plane of the connection surface. This load arrangement simulates the behaviour of a free flange of the thin-walled beam in bending while lateral-torsional buckling occurs. In this way, the research covers the determination of the lateral stiffness of the thin-walled beam-free flange, while the other flange is connected to the sandwich panel using various connection systems.