Sandwich structure comprises three major structural parts: face plates, sandwich core, and mechanisms to transfer shear between face plates and core (Fig 1). If a structure is potentially subject to significant bending moment, cyclic loading and large impact loading arising from hazardous environment, the steel-concrete-steel sandwich (SCS) system serves as an appealing alternative to existing stiffened steel plate structures. The advantages of SCS include, but not limited to, the following: 1. economical and optimised design to achieve highs stiffness and strength; 2. improved impact resistance, especially leakage control after punching failure of the steel plates; 3. compared with stiffened plate, the exposed steel surface area, hence the amount of the protection coating, is reduced; 4. require less stiffeners, therefore less welding and structural arrangement complexity, which will eventually leads to improved fatigue performance; 5. concrete core provides good acoustic and thermal insulation; 6. prefabrication and modular construction can reduce construction time.
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