Nonstandard Tensile Coupon for Fiber-Reinforced Plastics
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 15, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper develops the specification of a short tensile coupon (<60 mm long) through numerical modeling to negate Poisson’s effects in the accurate determination of elastic material properties and strength for pultruded glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) structural sections, the geometries of which prevent the extraction of a standard length coupon. Effects of geometric parameters including the ratio of orthotropy, coupon length, gauge length, thickness, and clamping length are presented. The validity and application of a “short” coupon is demonstrated through an experimental program to characterize the orthotropic tensile properties of the pultruded GRP box section in the longitudinal and transverse directions and the isotropic (assumed) elastic properties of a GRP connector. Initial tests have been conducted using ASTM D 3039 specimens to provide the longitudinal tensile properties of the pultruded GRP box section. Proposed “short” coupons have been extracted from the same parent material (location and direction) to enable a comparison with the properties obtained from the standard methodology. Transverse tensile properties of the pultruded GRP box section and the tensile properties of the GRP connector have been determined using the “short” coupon. With regard to the GRP connector, comments are made correlating observed material property variations and the influence of the manufacturing process.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 15 • Issue 2 • April 2003
Pages: 108 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 21, 2001
Accepted: Apr 24, 2002
Published online: Mar 14, 2003
Published in print: Apr 2003
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