Innovative Stainless Steel Applications in transport ... - Euro Inox

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Figure 53. Stainless steel sandwich panels
used as side and floor elements of a gravel
trailer platform (Kenno Tech 2008).
Joints and feedthroughs
A basic all-steel sandwich panel can be designed, for various purposes, using readily
available design software packages. However, solutions for connecting the individual
basic panels to each other and/or to ambient structures have to be solved on a case-bycase
basis. Stresses must be transferred smoothly, without stress concentrations across
the joints (Kujala et al. 2003). One specific problem is that of extending a panel in
longitudinal direction, since this requires joints in both surface sheets and cores. These
joints must be both high-strength and economical to manufacture. Furthermore, the
fatigue strength of a structure is usually governed by joint behaviour. Feedthroughs
penetrating the sandwich structure require a design of their own. Typically, a hole with
reinforced edges is cut for this purpose. Preferably, feedthroughs should be located so as
not to damage the core elements (Kujala et al. 2003).
Noise behaviour
Because all-steel sandwich panels are lightweight structures, they usually do not have
the mass to prevent noise penetration, especially at low noise frequencies. For this
reason, noise isolation in most cases requires the use of separate, application-tailored
insulation sheets (mats or equivalent).