Cyclic Testing of Pultruded Fiber‐Reinforced Plastic Beam‐Column Rigid Connection

This paper reports on the following: (1) Simple experimental investigations of pultruded fiber‐reinforced plastic (PFRP) material behavior and tests of simple epoxied joints to verify and enhance the reported database; (2) cyclic tests of an attempted PFRP rigid beam‐column connections; and (3) preliminary observations regarding the seismic‐resistance worthiness of PFRP structures. These are simple design issues that must be addressed if PFRP structural shapes are to gain broad acceptance by the design community. It is found that epoxied connections alone cannot fully exploit the high‐strength potential of this material, and that delamination of components is more problematic than the inherent brittleness of the material. The cyclic flexural test of an attempted rigid beam‐column connection has revealed the particular delamination weakness of the flange‐to‐web core of PFRP structural shapes. The construction of rigid beam‐column connections using commonly used steel details is found to be ineffective.