It is well known that there is a lack of experimental results on the thickn
ess distributions of the displacements, strains and stresses in sandwich be
ams in bending. The present work aims to fill partially this lacuna through
an experimental investigation. Use is made of a technique based on hologra
phic interferometry. Some experimental results quantifying the thickness di
stributions of the displacements are presented and the limitations of the a
dopted technique are discussed. The investigation also highlights some inte
resting effect of the core deformability, which are essential in understand
ing the failure phenomena of sandwich structures subjected to concentrated
loads. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.