Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Experimental tests and numerical modelling of wall sandwich panels

Fabrizio Gara , Laura Ragni, Davide Roia, Luigino Dezi
Dept. of Civil and Construction Engineering and Architecture, Universit Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 23 July 2011
Revised 15 November 2011
Accepted 2 December 2011
Available online 4 February 2012
Keywords:
Sandwich panels
Bearing wall panels
Full scale compression test
Diagonal compression test
Finite element analysis

a b s t r a c t
This paper presents the rst part of an experimental investigation carried out on a construction system
based on completed in situ sandwich panels with non-shear connectors, concerning the study of vertical
panels used as structural walls. Compression tests with axial and eccentric loads were carried out on several full scale panel specimens with different slenderness ratios in order to study the behaviour of panels
under vertical in-plane forces. Additionally, diagonal compression tests were performed on square specimens in different congurations in order to study the behaviour of panels under horizontal in-plane
forces. The most signicant loaddisplacement diagrams for increasing load are illustrated and the failure
modalities are discussed. The semi-composite behaviour of the panels, guaranteed by the internal layer of
polystyrene and the reinforced concrete beams at the panel ends, is highlighted. Finally, some numerical
simulations are performed with non-linear nite element models and some useful design indications are
given.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Construction systems based on sandwich panels are commonly
used worldwide for intensive building production. Sandwich panels are typically constituted by two concrete layers which are separated by an internal insulation layer of various materials (i.e.
expanded and extruded polystyrene, rigid polyurethane foam)
and are usually joined with shear connectors (i.e. truss connectors) able to transfer the longitudinal interface shear between the
layers so as to ensure a fully-composite or a semi-composite
behaviour of the sandwich panel.
This paper deals with a construction system that utilises
sandwich panels, both for structural walls and oors, which are
obtained by self-supporting reinforced insulation layers completed
in situ with spritz-beton. The prefabricated modular elements are
made of an undulated (corrugated) layer of expanded polystyrene,
with suitable density, reinforced by two metallic meshes connected by means of orthogonal steel wires welded to the meshes
(steel connectors). Thanks to the easy and fast mounting procedures, this construction system presents some technical advantages that make it often competitive in comparison with traditional
methods or precast systems. From a structural point of view these
panels are characterised by orthogonal connectors (no-shear connectors) so that their semi-composite behaviour depends on the
shear stiffness of the expanded polystyrene layer and, above all,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 071 2204550; fax: +39 071 2204576.
E-mail addresses: f.gara@univpm.it (F. Gara), laura.ragni@univpm.it (L. Ragni),
d.roia@univpm.it (D. Roia), dezi@univpm.it (L. Dezi).
0141-0296/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2011.12.027

on construction details, such as reinforced concrete regions at

the panel ends.
The structural behaviour of such a sandwich panel can be theoretically studied by means of analytical models which are usually
referred to in the literature as models for multilayered beams
[1,2] or two-layers composite beams [3,4] with deformable interlayer connection. As this paper deals with experimental investigation, a literature review of theoretical models is beyond the scope
of this paper and only some of the most recent works are cited as
example from which a comprehensive list of references describing
these models may be founded. However the behaviour of single
sandwich panels is obviously much easier to predict than the
behaviour of panels constituting real building walls. To evaluate
the structural performances of buildings constructed with this kind
of construction system, in addition to specic modelling taking
into account the semi-composite behaviour of the sandwich panels, other aspects need to be considered in the numerical evaluations, like (i) the restrain degree of wall-oor node depending on
the connection details and (ii) the bi-dimensional behaviour of
the panels which are each-other connected in real buildings. For
this purpose, experimental results of full scale tests, are an essential instrument to calibrate both theoretical methods and numerical models.
In the technical literature several experimental campaigns on
precast sandwich panels with shear connectors can be found
[513]. On the contrary, very few experimental tests have been
performed on sandwich panels with in situ sprayed concrete and
no-shear connectors [14,15] and on 3D full scale mock-up [16] in
order to study the behaviour of the panels in real structures. Consequently, general conclusions on the structural behaviour of this

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

construction system cannot be drawn and further experimental

investigations are needed. For this reason, an extensive experimental campaign, including a large number of tests on oor and wall
panels, cyclic tests on wall-oor connections and a load test on
the oor of a full scale 3D mock-up, has been carried out.
This rst paper refers only to tests performed on wall panels. In
particular, the results of compression tests with axial and eccentric
loads carried out on panels with an internal layer of different thickness, are presented. After that, the experimental results obtained on
panels with non-undulated polystyrene sheet and on panels with
undulated polystyrene sheet and half the number of connectors
are discussed. Additionally, the results of diagonal compression
tests carried out on square specimens of different congurations
in order to study the behaviour of panels under horizontal in-plane
forces are illustrated: wall standard panels, as well as wall panels
externally prestressed to simulate the effects of vertical loads and
panels stiffened with four orthogonal walls to simulate the behaviour of the wall in a real building are considered. For each test,
the loaddisplacement diagram and the failure modalities are
examined. Finally some numerical simulations, performed with
non-linear nite element models, are also reported and some useful
design indications are given.
2. Experimental campaign
The sandwich panels considered in this study are made of a
sheet of polystyrene reinforced by two 80 mm  75 mm metallic
meshes assembled by means of steel connectors. The sheet of polystyrene has an undulated prole and density of about 1525 kg/
m3. The galvanised welded wire meshes and the connectors
welded orthogonally to the meshes, are made with U3 wires of
high yield steel. Wall panels (WP) were completed simply by
spraying concrete onto the external surfaces of the sheet, rst up
to the metallic mesh and then up to the nal thickness of the concrete layer, using manual tools or pumps (Fig. 1). A ready-mixed
concrete, with sand no greater than 3 mm and specic additives
to improve adhesion and workability, was used.
2.1. Mechanical properties of materials
In order to evaluate the mechanical properties of the used
materials, several tests were carried out on concrete, metallic
meshes and internal layer consisting of a polystyrene sheet and
metallic connectors.

wire meshes

Table 1
Mean values of material properties.
Prismatic specimens
(MPa)

Cored specimens
(MPa)

Metallic meshes
(MPa)

fcu = 21.95
fcfm = 5.52

fcu = 25.10
fct = 2.40

fm = 769.00
Agt = 7.62

The concrete was characterised by means of tests on

40  40  160 mm specimens sampled during the cast, and tests
on cored specimens with a diameter of 94 mm and length of
250 mm sampled from the reinforced concrete beams at the ends
of the panel after the concrete curing. In accordance with EN ISO
12504-1 [17], bending tests were rst carried out to evaluate the
exural strength of the rectangular specimens, then the two resultant parts of the specimens were used for compression tests. A total number of eight specimens were prepared so that eight exural
tensile tests and sixteen compression tests were performed. Table 1
reports the mean values of the compression (fcu) and exural tensile concrete strength (fcfm). The cored specimens were divided into
two sets, one of which was subjected to the compression test and
the other to the indirect tensile splitting test, in accordance with
EN 12390-6 [18]. Four cored specimens were sampled and, consequently, four compression tests and four tensile splitting tests
were performed. The average values of compression strength (fcu)
and tensile concrete strength (fct) are reported in Table 1. From
these specimens, a mean value of 10500 MPa for the concrete
elastic modulus (Ec) was also estimated.
Tensile tests and weld shear strength tests were carried out on
six samples of metallic meshes following EN ISO 15630-2 [19].
Four samples reached the yield stress showing a very low ductility
(less than 2). The mean values of tensile strength (fm) and percentage elongation at failure (Agt) are reported in Table 1.
The other two samples showed a brittle fracture and a strength
value which was about 20% lower than the yielding strength. It is
worth noticing that the failure of all the mesh samples occurred
at a welded joint as a consequence of the welding disturbs. Finally,
the weld shear strength tests gave an average shear force of
2.64 kN, which is 1.25 times greater than the wire yielding force,
as prescribed by the code. The mechanical properties of the internal layer were obtained by means of shear tests according to the
Standard Test Method for Shear Properties of Sandwich Core Materials [20]. Samples with dimensions of 400  445 mm made of
three concrete layers and two internal layers were tested. In

concrete layers

steel connectors
polystyrene

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 1. Concrewall wall sandwich panels: (a) schematic sketch of the components; (b) concrete spraying onto the external surfaces up to the metallic mesh and (c) up to the
nal thickness.

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

(a)
30

3S (160 mm)

1S (80 mm)

5S (160 mm)

Load [kN]

1S (80 mm)

Load [kN]

30

Displacement [mm]

Displacement [mm]

(b)
Fig. 2. Shear tests: (a) test conguration and (b) loaddisplacement cycles.

particular, eight samples were considered with internal layers of

different thickness and with a different number of connectors.
Subsequently, the polystyrene sheets of four samples were dissolved in order to obtain samples with metallic connectors only.
Load and unload cycles were performed up to failure (Fig. 2a). Slipping between the concrete layers was measured by means of two
LVDTs and the applied load was determined by means a pressure
transducer. In Fig. 2b loaddisplacement graphs are illustrated
with reference to samples 1S and 3S, with polystyrene sheet thickness of 80 mm and 160 mm respectively, and sample 5S which is
similar to sample 1S but without the polystyrene sheets. By comparing the results of the tests on 1S and 3S samples it is evident
that the stiffness decreases considerably when the thickness of
the internal layer increases, whereas by comparing the results of
1S and 5S samples it can be observed that the contribution of connectors is negligible with respect to the contribution of the
polystyrene.
For each test the initial shear modulus was calculated by means
of

Gi

Ki
hi
2Ai

where Ki is the initial stiffness of the sample, and hi and Ai the thickness and the area of each internal layer. Table 2 shows all the
obtained results.

Table 2
Shear tests: samples and results.
Sample

hi (mm)

Polystyrene

Connectors

Ki (kN/mm)

Gi (N/mm2)

1S
2S
3S
4S
5S
6S
7S
8S

80
120
160
80
80
120
160
80

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

Double
Double
Double
Single
Double
Double
Double
Single

15.70
9.20
7.30
12.80
0.47
0.15
0.07
0.20

3.45
3.03
3.20
2.81
0.10
0.04
0.03
0.04

2.2. Panel geometry

A total of twenty two panels were built: sixteen for compression tests with axial and eccentric load and six for diagonal compression tests.
The panels for compression tests had a total height of 2940 mm,
a width of 1120 mm and concrete layer thickness of 35 mm. To
avoid stress concentrations and to facilitate the handling
operations two reinforced concrete beams were built at the ends
of the panels by dissolving a portion of the polystyrene sheet
in order to obtain a proper anchorage of the meshes (Fig. 3). For
the compression tests, wall panels (WP) with three different

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

120

Table 3
Geometric characteristics of panels for compression tests.

48
6/200mm

120

2700 mm

2940 mm

35
1120 mm

35 mm
c
h

Fig. 3. Panel for compression tests.

thicknesses of the internal layer, 80 mm (WP08), 120 mm (WP12)

and 160 mm (WP16), were built. For each thickness, two panels
were tested under axial load and two under eccentric load. In addition, two different kinds of wall panel were prepared for the compression tests: the WPN panel with a non-undulated polystyrene
layer and the WPH panel with half the number of connectors
(Fig. 4). In these cases only one compression test with axial load

Specimen

Panel

Compression loading

c (mm)

h (mm)

2a.1
2a.2
3a.1
3a.2
4a.1
4a.2
X.2
Y.2
2b.1
2b.2
3b.1
3b.2
4b.1
4b.2
X.1
Y.1

WP08
WP08
WP12
WP12
WP16
WP16
WPN08
WPH8
WP08
WP08
WP12
WP12
WP16
WP16
WPN08
WPH08

Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric

80
80
120
120
160
160
80
80
80
80
120
120
160
160
80
80

150
150
190
190
230
230
150
150
150
150
190
190
230
230
150
150

and one with eccentric load were performed for each kind of panel.
The list of all the panels with the overall thickness (h), the internal
layer thickness (c), and the kind of test performed are reported in
Table 3.
For the diagonal compression tests, only 1120 mm  1120 mm
WP08 panels were considered since the thickness of the internal
layer does not inuence the panel behaviour under in-plane forces.
In addition, prestressed and transversally stiffened panels were
considered in order to simulate the effects of vertical load and
the stiffening contribution of walls and oors orthogonal to the
panels, respectively. To better distribute the compression load,
two triangular reinforced concrete regions at two opposite corners
of the standard wall panels (Fig. 5a) and two reinforced concrete
L-shaped beams in the stiffened panels (Fig. 5b) were built.
In the prestressed panels two steel threaded bars are applied
with prestressing loads of 30 kN and 90 kN. The list of all the
specimens with overall thickness (h), internal layer thickness (c),
prestressing forces and loading type are reported in Table 4.

Section B-B
WP08

B
A

WPH08

40

80 15

wire meshes 3
150

WP08

150

Section A-A

80

polystyrene

80

80

concrete

40
1120
1245

WPN08

Fig. 4. Details of WP, WPN and WPH panels.

150

150

75

20

20

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

1120 mm

1120 mm

Section A-A

48
6/200mm

Section A-A

1420 mm

A
A

A
1120 mm

150

(a)

1120 mm

(b)

Fig. 5. Panels for diagonal compression tests: (a) wall panel and (b) transversally stiffened panel.

Table 4
Geometric characteristics of panels for diagonal compression tests.

Specimen

Panel

Compression loading

Prestressing load (kN)

c (mm)

h (mm)

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
C.1
C.2

WP08
WP08
WP08
WP08
WP08a
WP08a

Diagonal
Diagonal
Diagonal
Diagonal
Diagonal
Diagonal

30
90

80
80
80
80
80
80

150
150
150
150
150
150

With traversal stiffening walls.

2.3. Test conguration and instrumentation

For the compression tests the conguration of Fig. 6 was
adopted: panels were placed vertically with the bottom end pinned
(cylindrical pin) and the top end restrained so as to prevent lateral

displacement. This static scheme simulates the restraint condition

of panels in real multi-storey buildings when connections between
oor and wall panels produce negligible bending moments.
In the axial compression tests the load is applied at the panel
axis, while in the eccentric compression test the load is applied

reaction frame
S4

hydraulic
jacks

S5
S1
Svf

Svb
Sf

S2

S3
cylindrical pin

axial load

eccentric load

Fig. 6. Compression tests with axial and eccentric load: test conguration and instrumentation.

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

Svf
Shf

Svf
Shf

Fig. 7. Compression tests: overview and details of the top and bottom restraints.

at the axis of an external concrete layer. In both cases the load is

applied by means of four hydraulic jacks of 500 kN xed to a reaction frame (Figs. 6 and 7). The hydraulic jacks are managed by
means of a hydraulic control unit equipped with a pressure transducer to measure the applied load. A steel plate is placed between
the panel and the actuators in order to distribute the load uniformly. Furthermore, metallic proles are used to conne the reinforced concrete beams at the panel ends.
Each panel is instrumented with two LVDTs (Svf and Svb), working in a range of 50 mm, applied in an extensometric conguration to measure strain over a base length of 0.9 m. Three other
transducers (S1, S2, S3) are placed horizontally at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4
of the panel height to measure horizontal displacement. Finally,
two transducers (S4, S5) are placed within the panel thickness, at
an angle of 45 with respect to the vertical direction, at 3/4 of
the panel height, in order to measure the relative displacement between the concrete layers (Fig. 6).
Diagonal compression tests are carried out by means of a slide
pushed by six hydraulic jacks. The panels, rotated 45, are placed
between the slide and the reaction frame (Figs. 8 and 9). To avoid
any stress concentration, metallic L-shaped proles are used to distribute the load at the panel corners. Also in this case the applied

Fig. 9. Diagonal compression test without and with prestressing load: test
conguration and instrumentation.

load is measured using a pressure transducer. Each panel is instrumented with four LVDTs, working in a range of 50 mm, placed
vertically (Svf and Svb) and horizontally (Shf and Shb) on the front
and back panel surfaces, in an extensometric conguration to measure strain over a base length of 500 mm.
2.4. Test results
In this section the main results of the tests carried out on the
wall panels are illustrated: rst the results of the axial and eccentric compression tests and then the results of the diagonal
compression tests are reported and discussed. As regards the compression tests, Fig. 10 shows the lateral deections recorded by the
LVDT at mid-height of the panels (S2) on the sixteen panel specimens under axial (continuous lines) and eccentric (dashed lines)
increasing load. The rsts three graphs report the results of four

Fig. 8. Diagonal compression tests of panels without and with prestressing load.

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

WP08

500
2a.1
2a.2

0
1000

2b.1
2b.2

WP16

500
4a.1
4a.2

10
15
20
Lateral deflection [mm]

4b.1
4b.2
25

WP12

500
3a.1
3a.2

0
1000

Load [kN]

Load [kN]

1000
Load [kN]

Load [kN]

1000

3b.1
3b.2

WPN08
WPH08

500
Y.2
X.2

Y.1
X.1

10
15
20
Lateral deflection [mm]

25

Fig. 10. Axial and eccentric compression tests: load-lateral deection diagrams at mid-height of the panel.

Table 5
Compression tests with axial and eccentric loading: ultimate loads.
Specimen

Panel
type

Loading

Ultimate
Load (kN)

Mean U.L.
(kN)

Mean U.U.D.L.
(kN/m)

2a.1
2a.2
3a.1
3a.2
4a.1
4a.2
X.2
Y.2
2b.1
2b.2
3b.1
3b.2
4b.1
4b.2
X.1
Y.1

WP08
WP08
WP12
WP12
WP16
WP16
WPN08
WPH08
WP08
WP08
WP12
WP12
WP16
WP16
WPN08
WPH08

Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Axial
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric
Eccentric

701
783
806
844
855
907
736
765
375
401
460
545
524
630
461
591

742

662.5

825

736.6

881

786.6

388

657.1
683.0
346.4

503

448.7

577

515.2
411.6
527.7

1000

Ultimate Load [kN]

compression tests, two with axial and two with eccentric load,
carried out on specimens of the same typology (standard panels)
WP08, WP12, and WP16, respectively. The fourth graph shows
the results of tests on panels with non-undulated polystyrene
sheet (WPN08) and half a number of connectors (WPH08), one
under axial load and the other under eccentric load.
The maximum load (Ultimate Load) achieved in each test is
reported in Table 5, together with the mean value of the ultimate
load (Mean U.L.) reached by two specimens of the same typology,
and the mean ultimate uniformly distributed load (Mean U.U.D.L.),
i.e. the ultimate load divided by the panel width. In both the cases,
with axial and eccentric load, the ultimate loads decrease by
increasing the panel slenderness ratios, dened as L/h, where L is
the total height and h the overall thickness of the panel, as shown
in Fig. 11. It is worth noticing that in the case of the axial compression test the ultimate load of the panels is strongly inuenced by
any small undesired eccentricity due to imperfections in the specimen and test set-up (load, restraints, etc.). However, due to the
large difference between the values of undesired and imposed
eccentricity, the behaviour of the axially and eccentrically loaded
panels are signicantly dissimilar.
In particular, as regards axially loaded specimens, the lateral
deection of the panel remains generally small under increasing
loading (Figs. 10 and 12a) up to load values close to the ultimate
load. Failure occurs as a result of overall buckling of the specimen,

axial load
eccentric load

650

300
12

14

16

18

20

Slenderness ratio L/h

Fig. 11. Inuence of panel slenderness ratio on axial and eccentric ultimate loads.

due to compression, followed by the crushing of the concrete layer

in compression and the rupture of the metallic mesh inside the
other concrete layer, subjected to tension (Fig. 13a). As regards
the eccentrically loaded specimens, Fig. 10 shows that the load
vs lateral deection plots are nearly linear at the earlier stages of
loading; later, after the rst crack has appeared, the panels exhibit
a non-linear behaviour. The failure of the panel occurs, in this case,
because of the rupture of the metallic mesh in the concrete layer in
tension. However, a not very ductile behaviour was observed, since
mesh failure occurs at the joints where the effective cross-section
of the metallic wires may be reduced and the steel strength and
ductility are lower due to welding (Fig. 13b and c).
The different behaviour and different failure modes between
wall panels under axial and eccentric loading are also shown in
Fig. 14a which reports the displacement measured by the transducers Svf and Svb placed in a vertical position on the front and back
faces of specimens 2a.1 and 2b.2. Continuous lines refer to tests
with axial load (2a.1), dashed lines to tests with eccentric load
(2b.2). In the case of axially loaded specimens, the two concrete
layers initially behave in the same way, both characterised by
shortening deformations; only during a second phase does the
behaviour of the two concrete layers become different, with one
concrete layer characterised by shortening deformation and the
other by elongation. In the case of eccentrically loaded specimens
a different behaviour is observed from the beginning of the test.
In fact, with a low load level, the two concrete layers behave
differently, one with shortening deformation and the other with
elongation, and this denotes a predominant exural behaviour of
the panel.
In Fig. 14b the longitudinal (slip) and transversal (separation)
components of the relative displacement between the two

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

3.0

150 kN
300 kN
450 kN
600 kN

3.0

150kN
300kN
450kN
600kN

4b.2

Wall height [mm]

Wall height [mm]

4a.2

0
20

20

20

Lateral deflection [mm]

20

Lateral deflection [mm]

(a)

(b)

Fig. 12. Lateral deection at different load stages: (a) axial load and (b) eccentric load.

Fig. 13. Specimens after failure (a) axially and (b) eccentrically loaded; (c) mesh failure.

800

Svb
400

0
-3

Svf

Load [kN]

Load [kN]

800

Svf

Svb

2a.1
2b.2
0
Displacement [mm]

(a)

400

0
-0.5

2a.1
2b.2
0

Displacement [mm]

(b)

Fig. 14. (a) Vertical deformation of the two concrete layers and (b) slip and separation between the concrete layers in axially and eccentrically loaded specimens.

concrete layers of the above mentioned specimens 2a.1 and 2b.2

are plotted, for increasing axial (continuous line) and eccentric
(dashed line) loadings.
These components are calculated from the vectorial decomposition of the displacement recorded by transducers S4 and S5. The

longitudinal slip exhibits an initial nearly linear behaviour followed by a non-linear behaviour until ultimate values of about
1.5 mm. Compared to the slip, the separation is characterised by
much lower values, which are practically negligible, meaning that
the two concrete layers deect together.

F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

Table 6
Diagonal compression tests: cracking load, ultimate load, and failure modes.
Specimen

First cracking load (kN)

Failure load (kN)

Failure modes

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
C1
C2

144
129
118
168
103
137

302
342
332
306
341
225

a*
a
a
a
b
b*

a localised concrete crushing; b failure due to diagonal tension.

*
Failure of one of the two concrete layers.

The high values of the ultimate loads obtained, the inuence of

the slenderness ratio on the ultimate loads as well as the low values of relative displacement between the concrete layers conrm
that these wall panels behave as semi-composite elements. However, some aspects deserve to be discussed. First of all, it is worth
noticing that the slip between the two concrete layers is restricted
not only by the shear deformable internal layer but also by the
solid reinforced concrete beams at the bottom and top ends of
the panels. Consequently, the results of the tests presented in this
paper may be considered as representative only for real buildings
in which the connections between oor and wall panels are built
with solid reinforced concrete regions. Furthermore, it is important
to underline that the reinforced concrete beams at the panel ends
also cause a higher degree of exural restraint between the oor
and wall panels, which may lead to high values of vertical load
eccentricity and, thus, to ultimate loads signicantly lower than
the values obtained in the tests.
With regard to the tests on WPN08 and WPH08 wall panels,
under both axial and eccentric load, the values of ultimate loads
are similar to or higher than those obtained by standard panels
WP08. These panels can therefore be considered as valid alternatives for standard panels even if a greater number of specimens
should be tested to arrive at some general conclusions.
As regards the diagonal compression tests, Table 6 reports the
rst cracking load, the failure load and the failure modes. It is
worth noticing that specimens 5.1 and C2 were characterised by
premature failure of one of the two concrete layers of the panels,
due to a small undesired eccentricity of the axial load. For this reason, these results are not taken into consideration in the following
comments. High rst cracking loads were observed for all the
specimens, while concerning the ultimate load the only signicant
result is that provided by specimen C1, which is the only one

201

reaching a diagonal tensile failure. In fact, for the other specimens

concrete crushing occurred at the load application point. Specimen
C1, which is similar to specimen 5.2 but with transversal stiffening
walls, nearly simulates a pure shear test thanks to the diffusion of
the vertical load along the panel perimeter guarantee by the transversal walls. The highest stress values are reached in the central
part of panel C1, where tensile and compression stress values are
similar. Diagonal tensile failure occurred with a load of 341 kN.
In Fig. 15a the largest crack is marked with a thick dashed line.
On the contrary, for specimen 5.2, a concentration of the compression stresses occurred around the load application point, causing
the crushing of the concrete at a load value of 342 kN, as shown
in Fig. 15b.
The inuence of transversal walls can also clearly be seen in
Fig. 16 where both the vertical shortening deformation (Svf and
Svb) and the horizontal elongation (Sof and Sob) measured on the
two sides of specimen C1 (with transversal walls) (Fig. 16a) and
specimen 5.2 (without transversal walls) (Fig. 16b) are reported.
In the panel with transversal walls, at the rst stage of loading,
the average horizontal elongation is nearly equal to the vertical
shortening deformation; later, after the cracking of the concrete
layer, it becomes larger. On the contrary, in panels without transversal walls, at the rst stage of loading, the average horizontal
elongation is lower than the vertical shortening and becomes similar after concrete cracking.
The effects of prestressing can be observed in the results of tests
on specimens 5.3 and 5.4, prestressed with forces of 30 kN and
90 kN respectively. The rst concrete cracking appeared at a
slightly higher load for specimen 5.4 than for specimen 5.3. However, a lower failure load was achieved by specimen 5.4 than by
specimen 5.3, since the prestressing force incremented the
compression stresses around the load application point where
the failure occurred.
Finally, it may be noticed that in all the tests performed, failure
did not occur suddenly but was always preceded by extensive
diffuse concrete cracking. All the specimens were in fact already
micro-cracked before the tests, due to concrete shrinkage and
specimen handling. The micro-cracks constitute weak zones in
the concrete where cracks may preferentially occur. Nevertheless,
the specimens revealed a high capacity for stress redistribution
thanks to the metallic mesh inside the concrete layers. However,
it should be underlined that the results considered here are
relevant to tests on symmetrically loaded panels, with the two
concrete layers equally loaded; in reality this is an ideal condition

Fig. 15. Diagonal compression test: crack pattern at failure for panels (a) with and (b) without transversal stiffening walls.

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

400

Sof
200

Sof

Svf
Sob

Load [kN]

Load [kN]

400

Svb

Sob

200

C1
-4

Svf
Svb

5.2
0

-4

Displacement [mm]

Displacement [mm]

(a)

(b)

Fig. 16. Diagonal compression test: vertical shortening and transversal elongation of panels with (C1) and without (5.2) transversal stiffening walls.

that can only occur when concrete layers are connected by reinforced concrete beams.

3. Numerical simulation
Compression tests were numerically simulated with a displacement based non-linear static analysis taking into account both
geometrical and material non-linearities, performed with the
structural analysis programme Seismostruct [21]. Specimens were
modelled with non-linear nite element models. In particular 20
beam elements were used for each concrete layer. The nodes at
each end of the two concrete layers were joined with two rigid
elements to simulate the reinforced concrete beams while the
internal nodes were joined with shear elastic links. The links are
axially rigid and shear deformable with the shear stiffness provided by the internal layer (Fig. 17).
The specimen is restrained with a cylindrical pin at the base and
a horizontal support at the top. In simulating axial compression
tests a small eccentricity of the vertical was considered in order
to simulate geometrical imperfections of panels and uncertainties
of the load position. To simulate eccentric compression tests the
load was applied at the axis of a concrete layer (Fig. 17). In both
cases the vertical load was applied incrementally until failure of
the sample was reached.

axial
load

eccentric
load

15 15
300 cm

beam
element

shear
deformable
link ( Kl)

rigid
link
hl

hl

Fig. 17. Finite element model for compression tests.

A non-linear constitutive law [22] was considered for the concrete and a symmetric elasto-perfectly-plastic bilinear model for
the steel. The values of the mechanical parameters were determined from the results of the tests performed on the materials
(paragraph 2.1). In particular the shear stiffness of the links joining
the two concrete layers was calculated by the equation

Ki

 
GAl hl
c
c

where G = 3.2 N/mm2 is the mean value among those obtained with
the shear tests for material characterisation, Al is the inuence area
of the links, c is the internal layer thickness and the factor hl/c takes
into account the difference between the length (hl) of the links and c
(Table 7).
In Fig. 18 the load vs lateral deection graphs obtained from
compression tests are compared with the results obtained from
the numerical analysis. The behaviour of eccentrically loaded panels is well-approximated by the numerical model while for axially
loaded panels a lower agreement between experimental and
numerical results is achieved. In fact, the behaviour and the ultimate loads of real panels are largely inuenced by geometrical
imperfections (not perfectly at concrete layers, variability of
thicknesses, etc.) that are difcult to evaluate and take into consideration in a numerical model. However the numerical simulations
may be considered satisfactory. Furthermore, in order to evaluate
the critical load Pb1 of panels, a buckling analysis was also carried
out using the same numerical model but considering a linear elastic behaviour of the materials. Values of the buckling loads obtained with these analyses (Pb1) are reported in Table 8 and also
in Fig. 18.
It can be observed that the Pb1 values seem to be approached by
the curves obtained with the non-linear models, considering
approximately axial loads. In order to highlight the semi-composite behaviour of the panels, the values of the Euler buckling load
(Pb2), calculated in the hypothesis of zero shear stiffness of the
links are reported in Table 8 (values of Pb2 are twice the Euler buckling load for a single concrete layer). Furthermore, the buckling
load Pb3 are reported in the same table, where Pb3 was calculated
by considering the panel to be entirely made of concrete. The coefcient a = Pb1/Pb3 was introduced to easily estimate the buckling
load of the panels. As expected, the values of this coefcient are
less than 1 and decrease as the thickness of the internal layer
increases.
However, only in the case of undesired eccentricity, buckling
loads are close to the ultimate loads. In fact, due to the pronounced
non-linear behaviour of the materials, the ultimate load of the
eccentrically loaded panels is signicantly lower than the buckling
load and can be estimated only with a non-linear analysis which
considers both geometrical and material non-linearities. Obviously
the reduction in the ultimate load will be more signicant for
greater values of load eccentricity. As already mentioned, the value

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

Table 7
Characteristics of the numerical model.
WP08

WP12

WP16

115
9660

155
5786

195
4095

experimental

Load [kN]

hl (mm)
Kl (N/mm)

400

200

f.e.m.
(Ec)
f.e.m.
(0.4Ec)

C1

1300

Displacement [mm]

Load [kN]

Pb1 = Pb3
Fig. 19. Diagonal compression tests: comparison between experimental and
numerical results.

f.e.m. 2a.1
650

2a.1

2b.2

well-simulated by the model with the original concrete elastic

modulus Ec.
At this load a rst crack appeared which was associated with a
distinct horizontal segment in the load and displacement plot.
After the rst crack, the experimental curve is non-linear due to
the progressive cracking of the concrete. The numerical model with
a reduced elastic modulus (0.4Ec) simulates quite well the global
behaviour of the cracked panel.
The ultimate load may be estimated by simplied formulas
found in technical scientic literature. In particular for the diagonal
compression test the following formula may be used:

f.e.m. 2b.2
0
1300

Load [kN]

Pb1 = Pb3
3a.2 f.e.m. 3a.2
3b.2

650

f.e.m. 3b.2

Load [kN]

0
1300

Pb1 = Pb3

f.e.m. 4a.1
4a.1

Pu 2Bstot fct
4b.2

650

f.e.m. 4b.2

10

15

20

25

Displacement [mm]
Fig. 18. Axial and eccentric load tests: comparison between experimental and
numerical results.

Table 8
Critical loads and reduction coefcient.
Specimen

Mean U.L. (kN)

Pb1 (kN)

Pb2 (kN)

Pb3 (kN)

WP08
WP12
WP16

742
825
881

931
1082
1221

92.8
92.8
92.8

3653
7424
13,169

0.25
0.15
0.09

of the load eccentricity depends on the rotational restraint between the wall and oor panels.
With regard to the diagonal compression tests, the behaviour of
the specimen with the transversal concrete wall (C1) was numerically simulated with an elastic nite element model using the
structural analysis programme SAP2000 [23]. The panel was modelled with shell elements with a thickness equal to the overall
thickness of the two concrete layers and with an elastic modulus
equal to that of the concrete used. The transversal concrete walls
were modelled with beam elements. Vertical static loads were applied on several nodes for a total force equal to the ultimate load
experimentally obtained (341 kN). The value of the horizontal tension in the central node of the model is 2.3 N/mm2 which is nearly
equal to the ultimate tensile strength of the concrete. In Fig. 19 the
load-shortening plot experimentally obtained is compared with
the results obtained with the numerical model, considering an
elastic modulus Ec and a reduced modulus 0.4Ec to take into account the cracking of the concrete. Up to a load of about 100 kN
the behaviour of the specimen is typically linear elastic and is

2  1120  70  2:3
360 kN
1000

where B is the width of the panel and stot is the overall thickness of
the concrete layers. The result is close to the ultimate load experimentally evaluated for specimen C1. However, in real buildings,
the strength of panels under vertical and horizontal forces involves
not only the shear resistance but also the bending resistance,
depending on the overall dimensions of the wall. Moreover, the
inuence of openings for doors and windows must be considered.
4. Conclusions
The results of an experimental campaign on completed in situ
sandwich panels with no-shear connectors, used as wall panels,
have been presented. In particular, compression tests with axial
and eccentric load and diagonal compression tests were performed. Some numerical simulations with linear and non-linear nite element models were also carried out.
As regards compression tests, wall panels with different internal layer thickness (WP08, WP12, WP16) and with two different
congurations (WPN and WPH) were tested. High ultimate loads,
decreasing for increasing values of the slenderness ratios, were obtained. The numerical simulations indicated that the ultimate
loads of axially loaded panels are close to the buckling loads which
can be determined by performing a linear buckling analysis or by
using the coefcient a. Differently, the ultimate loads of eccentrically loaded panels, which are signicantly lower than the buckling
loads, can be simulated only by performing a non-linear analysis.
Additional research is needed to develop simple, effective and rational methods for predicting the ultimate load of wall panels for
different values of load eccentricity. The results of the experimental tests and numerical simulations indicated that a partial degree
of composite behaviour was attained by the tested panels even if
non-shear connectors are used in the interior layer. However, this
semi-composite behaviour is due not only to the internal layer, but
also to the reinforced concrete beams at the ends of the panels.
Additional investigations are needed to develop simple, effective
and rational methods for predicting the ultimate load of wall panels for different values of load eccentricity and to study the behaviour of panels without reinforced concrete beams.

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F. Gara et al. / Engineering Structures 37 (2012) 193204

As regards diagonal compression tests, simple wall panels, prestressed wall panels and panels with transversal stiffening walls
were tested. In all these cases high cracking loads were observed.
The panels also showed a high capacity for stress redistribution
thanks to the metallic mesh inside the concrete layers. However,
only one specimen with transversal stiffening walls showed a tensile diagonal rupture while the other specimens showed a compression failure at the load application region. The numerical
simulation of the test reaching the tensile diagonal rupture showed
that an effective concrete modulus of elasticity may be considered
to simulate the global behaviour of the cracked panel and that the
ultimate load may be estimated on the basis of the tensile strength
of the concrete. However, since in real buildings the behaviour of
the panels under vertical and horizontal in-plane forces is strongly
inuenced by the overall dimensions of the wall and by openings
for doors and windows, further investigations on panels with different congurations are recommended.
Acknowledgments
The nancial support provided by Schnell House S.p.A., based
in San Marino, is gratefully acknowledged. The technical support of
the laboratory staff at the Dept. of Architecture, Construction and
Structures, Universit Politecnica delle Marche, is greatly appreciated. The opinions, ndings and conclusions contained in this paper are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reect the
views of the sponsors.
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