A workshop on "Practical Applications of Sandwich Structures" will be held on 13th December 2005 in
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The event is being organised by the SAND.CORe co-ordination action on
"Advanced Sandwich Structures in the Transport Industries".
Sandwich materials typically consist of two relatively thin, stiff facings separated by a thicker, lower density
core material or structure. Their high mass specific strength and stiffness makes them attractive for transport
applications, particularly where there are clear benefits to be realised through lightweighting or design
integration. However, despite their technical advantages, there are a number of issues that are currently
limiting the adoption of sandwich structures by the transport sectors. These include:
Material selection - there are many different sandwich constructions available employing a wide
range of materials and structural configurations. It can therefore be very difficult for potential endusers
to select the most appropriate sandwich construction for a particular application.
Design - sandwich structures exhibit a wide range of failure modes and numerical analyses tend to
be computationally intensive.
Manufacturing - sandwich panel manufacturing operations are often relatively slow and labour
intensive, making it difficult to penetrate high volume, low cost sectors.
Joining – joining is a critical technology for sandwich structures both in terms of the manufacture of
the basic panels (core-to-facing joints), and the subsequent assembly of those panels into useful
structures.
Recycling - recent legislation such as the End of Life Vehicle Directive presents new challenges for
sandwich structures, particularly where different materials are employed for the facing and the core.
Fire performance - the transport sectors have some of the most stringent fire regulations which
sandwich materials must be capable of meeting if they are to be specified.
The SAND.CORe co-ordination action aims to foster the application of sandwich structures in the European
transport sectors by benchmarking, harmonising and complementing previous research work, by making state
of the art knowledge and experiences easily available, and by creating a sustainable infrastructure for interindustry
co-operation. This workshop represents one component of this initiative by providing a forum for
review, discussion and networking, and for identifying and highlighting research priorities for the future.
The SAND.CORe co-ordination action is supported by the European Commission.
Workshop Organiser: NewRail – Contact Person: Katie Hodgson
School of Mechanical & Systems Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Tel: +44 191 222 5821 Fax: +44 191 222 8600 E. mail: katie.hodgson@newcastle.ac.uk
Practical Applications of Sandwich Structures
Workshop Programme – 13th December 2005
9:15 - 10:00
Registration
Introduction
10:00
Advanced Sandwich Structures in the Transport Industries – Aims & Results of the SAND.CORe Project
Frank Roland (Center of Maritime Technologies)
Sandwich Structures in Marine Applications
10:30
Sandwich Technologies in Marine Applications
Marcel Elenbaas (Schelde Naval Shipbuilding), Thomas Gosch (Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft)
& Thomas Reinert (Jos. L. Meyer)
11:00
Impact Testing to Gauge the Toughness of Sandwich Structures for Marine Applications
Giles Fryett (VT Halmatic)
11:30
Coffee
Sandwich Structures in Land Transport
12:00
Sandwich Technologies for Next Generation Rail Vehicle Cabs
Joe Carruthers, Mark Robinson (NewRail) & Steve Ingleton (University of Sheffield)
12:30
Design and Manufacturing of a Lightweight Semi-Trailer Based on Sandwich Technologies
Tord Gustafsson (APC Composit)
13:00
Lunch
Beyond the SAND.CORe Project
12:00
Sandwich Panels in the Construction Industry
Lars Pfeiffer (iS-mainz)
12:30
A Cost-effective, Straight-forward Assembly Method for Composite Sandwich Structures
Taco Rison (Structural Composites Europe)
13:00
New Technologies for Sandwich Structures: Design, Production, Applications
Alan Klanac (Helsinki University of Technology)
The Way Forward
15:30
Discussion – Future Research Needs Relating to Sandwich Structures for Transport Applications
Facilitated by Frank Roland (Center of Maritime Technologies) and Mark Robinson (NewRail)
16:00
Close
Conference Venue
Centre for Life (www.life.org.uk)
Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4EP, UK.
2 minutes walk from Newcastle Central railway station, 30 minutes from Newcastle airport by metro.
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