Influence of weathering conditions on TRC sandwich renovation panels

Abstract

Using large lightweight prefabricated sandwich panels for the renovation of existing dwellings facilitates the installation process and reduces the renovation time to a few days. To guarantee the performance of the panels during their entire life span it is necessary to evaluate their behaviour on the long term. During their life span the facade panels are exposed to weather conditions such as wind, snow, rain, etc. To simulate these effects 8 sandwich beams, with a span of 2.2 m were fabricated and loaded until failure, after being subjected to repeated mechanical loading and/or and heat-rain cycles. The latter were done in a climate chamber according to ETAG004. The results of this study show that repeated loading reduces the initial stiffness of the panels up to 40%. Durability tests (heat-rain cycles) did not influence the stiffness noticeably but led to a decrease of about 30% in ultimate strength when compared to a non-aged panel.