Manufacturing and mechanical performances of a novel foam core sandwich-walled hollow column reinforced by stiffeners

To obtain a strong and weight-efficient cylindrical column, we proposed a novel foam core sandwich-walled hollow column reinforced by stiffeners (FSCRS). The FSCRS was consisted of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) faces, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam core, and GFRP stiffeners. Four full-diameter specimens, including two FSCRS and two traditional foam core sandwich-walled hollow columns (FSC), were manufactured using a vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI) process. Axial compression tests were carried out to reveal the mechanical behaviours of the FSC and FSCRS. Experiments showed that, benefitting from the combination advantage of stiffened cylinder and sandwich cylinder, this novel FSCRS can resist or postpone various buckling failure, instead of failing via face crushing with high strength. Compared to FSC, the load-mass ratio of FSCRS increased markedly by 48.3% and 50.1% for specimen face thickness of 1.2 and 2.4 mm, respectively. Combined with the cost-effective manufacturing technology, the novel FSCRS is a desirable alternative to achieve superior compression properties required in engineering structures.