Composite modular floor prototype for emergency housing applications: Experimental and analytical approach

Abstract

The present paper explores a new modular floor prototype to be used in emergency houses. The prototype is composed of a frame structure made of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) tubular pultruded profiles, a slab made of sandwich panels with a polyurethane (PU) foam core and GFRP skins, and a tailored connection system that provides integrity between assembled components. A series of experimental tests are carried out including flexural tests on a single panel, on two and three connected panels, and on the assembled floor prototype. The behaviour of the panels is analysed when they are not considered part of the GFRP framed structure, namely the failure mechanisms and the efficiency of the proposed connection system between the panels. The performance of the floor prototype to support typical load conditions of residential houses is also assessed. Additionally, an analytical model was used to deeper study the behavior of the developed sandwich panels, connection system and the modular floor prototype.

FEM-Based Numerical Strategy for Analysis of Composite Modular Floor Prototype for Emergency Housing Applications

“…The floor prototype tested in the experimental program [31]consisted of a frame structure and three floor panels configuring the slab. Geometry of the different components of the prototype, as well as details on the connections, are shown in Fig.…”

“…Instrumentation was placed at midspan of the panels, at connections between panels, under loaded sections and at the frame beams. More information about the tests described above can be found in [31].…”

“…Similarly, one-quarter of the structures was simulated in the case of the floor prototype (see Table 1 includes information about the constitutive models applied to each material involved in the simulations and summarizes the parameters that define each model. Material properties were adopted according to the characterization tests performed on the components that comprise the prototype [31]. As the GFRP skins had a quasi-isotropic lay-up, an isotropic linear elastic material with maximum normal tensile stress was chosen to represent the GFRP skin mechanical behaviour.…”

“…where tn is the normal stress; Since in the direct pull-out tests it was demonstrated [31] that the stiffness degradation between GFRP material and PU foam was due to failure of the foam itself, the peak value were substituted by the maximum tensile strength and maximum shear strength of the foam core, as indicated in Table 1. It is worthwhile mentioning that mode-mixity was not presumed in this simulation, and therefore, defining the shear stress value did not have any influence on the type of simulation, even though ABAQUS requires those values [29].…”

“…Journal of Structural Engineering, 146(1): 04019172 1-14. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0002459 experimental program was conducted [31] in a previous phase of the work in order to assess the mechanical behavior of the sandwich panels and the floor prototype, and to perform a complete material characterization. In this paper, those experimental results are used to calibrate and validate a nonlinear three-dimensional finite element model, which takes into account different constituent models for the sandwich panels components, as well as a cohesive interaction model between the adherent surfaces of the panel.…”