Passenger boarding bridges such as those used at airports and on cruise ship docks have traditionally been constructed from sheet metal with corrugated panels on their exterior for strength and support. These exterior panels are welded together to make the wall, floor and roof portions of the boarding bridge. The conventional panel design has a generally symmetrical cross-section with the corrugations running normal to the longitudinal axis of the boarding bridge. Conventional panels slightly overlap each other creating a vertical seam which is continuously welded along with the top and bottom of each panel.
The conventional exterior panel design results in a substantial portion of the wall assembly having no insulation and requires a sixty inches wide strip of sheet metal to produce a finished panel forty eight inches wide. Therefore, it is highly desirable to construct a wall assembly with a greater insulation R value, more economical use of raw material, reduced welding requirements and lighter in weight with more interior design flexibility.