Corrugated Wood Composite Panels For Structural Decking

Mathematical ModelsThree different methods were used to analyze and model the mechanicalproperties of corrugated panels and composite deck system. Finite element (FE) analyses,classical plate theory, and basic structural engineering principles (based on beam theory),were the three approaches used to model the test data.(1) Finite element (FE) modeling was used to verify the test results. Themain advantage of using a FE analysis was that it could model almostany combination of loads and boundary conditions. However, there aresome disadvantages of using a FE model. First, a FE model requiresvery intensive calculations and the computation time can be very longeven using a fast computer. Second, FE only provides numericalsolutions for the given panel geometry, loads and boundary conditions.Changes in panel geometry will require a complete new mesh andcalculations. Empirical equations to describe the behaviors of a rangeof panel geometry or boundary conditions may be obtained byperforming linear or non-linear regression on the results of a set of FEmodels.(2) Classical plate theory was also used to analyze corrugated panels. Inplate theory, the bending behaviors of a panel are governed by aclassical plate bending differential equation. A solution for arectangular orthotropic plate, simply supported at two opposite edgesand free at the others, is discussed here. A uniformly distributed loads,18