Structural Performance of Foam Concrete-Filled Sandwich Panels Under Flexural and Axial Compression

Abstract Steel-faced foamed Concrete sandwich panels have recently gained attention as lightweight structural systems for buildings applications because of their ability to provide structural efficiency with reduced self-weight. However, limited experimental studies have investigated the combined influence of rib geometry and mechanical connector arrangement on their structural behaviour and composite action. This study experimentally investigated the flexural and axial compression performance of steel-faced foamed concrete sandwich panels and clarified the interaction between rib spacing and connector configuration in controlling stiffness and load transfer. Two foamed concrete mixes with target compressive strength of 2.5 MPa (M1) and 4.0 MPa (M2) were used as core materials. The panels were fabricated with two rib spacing configurations (R10 and R15) and two connector arrangement of 6 (C6) and 9 (C9) steel bolt connectors strength, rib spacing, and connector number. Under Flexural loading, specimen M2-R10-C9 achieved the highest performance, reaching a first crack load of 25 KN and an ultimate load of 35 KN, whereas M1-R15-C6 exhibited the lowest flexural capacity. Under axial compression, the maximum load of 546.84 KN was recorded for specimen M2-R10-C6. Panels with R10 generally exhibited higher load capacity and stiffness than those with R15. Overall, within the investigated configurations, optimizing core strength, rib spacing, and connector distribution improved the structural performance of steel-faced foamed concrete sandwich panels.