by QueticoBill » Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:24 pm
Yes - the foam is or at least can be in some designs structural. Stressed skin panels, or called SIPs in home building today, rely the foam to keep the skins more or less equidistant apart and from buckling from the compressive forces on the top skin - just like the web does on a wide flange ("I") beam. Some designs rely on the framing, others use the skins as structure. When the skins are used for structural support, foam or honeycomb or light framing are a part of the system. I've worked a lot with stressed skin panels in my work, mostly foam or honeycomb, and their strength is often underestimated. There is reliance on the adhesive bond, not a factor to be ignored.