Design and compressive behavior of a wood-based pyramidal lattice core sandwich structure

Eco-friendly wood-based engineering materials have often received considerable interest worldwide because of their high specific strength/stiffness and biodegradability. To design and enhance an axially compressive member of a wooden structure, a pyramidal lattice core sandwich structure was fabricated with larch sawn timber as the face sheet and birch dowel as the core by using a slotting and adhesive bonding approach. A flatwise compressive experiment was conducted to reveal the compressive behavior and failure modes of the structure. The enhanced designs of the face sheet and the core were based on the failure mechanism and mechanical properties of raw materials. Theoretical analysis and finite element method were applied to predict the structural compressive behavior. Comparison of theoretical, numerical, and experimental results suggested good agreement in the structural compressive response. The results revealed that the reasonable design of the face sheet and the core played an important role in the compressive response and failure modes of the wood-based pyramidal lattice core sandwich structure.