Pullout Behavior of Connections Using Self-Drilling Screws for Pultruded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites in Construction
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 27, Issue 1
Abstract
Self-drilling screws provide an efficient and cost-effective way of joining lightweight structural members. In this work, the performance of self-drilling screw connections for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) structural members is investigated, for use in joining panels or plates to square hollow sections (SHSs). To investigate the resistance to pullout loads, tensile tests were conducted on connection specimens consisting of an FRP plate joined to an FRP SHS at a right angle. The specimens were prepared in five configurations, with differences in pultrusion directions of the FRP plate, screw gauge size, and coarseness of the screw threads. The specimens having fibers oriented transversely in the FRP plate exhibited a flexural failure of the plate and the lowest connection strength. The specimens having fibers oriented longitudinally in the FRP plate failed by the screw being pulled out from the FRP SHS profiles; shearing out of the thread in the screw hole. An increase in screw gauge size and thread coarseness was found to be beneficial to the connection strength. Further analysis was carried out to estimate the initial stiffness and the connection strength, by finite-element and analytical modeling, respectively. In addition, these analyses are able to correlate the average shear stress at failure of the connection specimens to the screw gauge size, thread coarseness, and effective contact area of the screws.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for support from the Australian Research Council Linkage scheme (Grant Number LP180101080). Thanks are also due for the technical support for the experimental program at Monash University.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- Acon
- effective contact area;
- An
- noneffective area in screw hole not engaged by steel screw thread in wall of GFRP SHS;
- As,eff
- effective shear area in screw hole in wall of GFRP SHS;
- A0
- cylindrical surface area of screw hole at crest of steel thread in wall of GFRP SHS;
- bFP
- width of GFRP FP;
- Dh
- head diameter of self-drilling screw;
- Dm
- major diameter of self-drilling screw;
- dm
- minor diameter of self-drilling screw;
- Iz,mid
- section moment of inertia at midsection of GFRP FP;
- Ki,Exp
- initial stiffness by experiment;
- Ki,FE
- initial stiffness by FE modeling;
- L
- length of self-drilling screw;
- LD
- length of outer helical curve (along crest of steel thread) engaged within wall thickness of GFRP SHS;
- Ld
- length of inner helical curve (along root of steel thread) engaged within wall thickness of GFRP SHS;
- LFP
- unconstrained span length of GFRP FP;
- Lh
- length of self-drilling screw head;
- Ls
- flank width of tapered helical thread of self-drilling screw;
- Mz,max
- maximum bending moment in GFRP FP;
- Pe
- elastic load by experiment;
- Pu,Ca11, Pu,Ca12
- ultimate loads by calculation;
- Pu,Exp
- ultimate load by experiment;
- p
- pitch distance of self-drilling screw;
- tFP
- thickness of GFRP FP;
- tSHS
- thickness of GFRP SHS;
- β
- angle of tapered helical thread of self-drilling screw;
- θD
- ascending angle of outer helical thread curve of self-drilling screw;
- θd
- ascending angle of inner helical thread curve of self-drilling screw;
- λ
- thread form ratio of self-drilling screw;
- σx,max
- maximum flexural stress in GFRP FP;
- τf
- interlaminar shear strength of GFRP SHS; and
- τf,ave
- average shear stress at failure.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 27 • Issue 1 • February 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 7, 2022
Accepted: Sep 1, 2022
Published online: Nov 7, 2022
Published in print: Feb 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 7, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Connections (structural)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Failure analysis
- Fiber reinforced polymer
- Forensic engineering
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Materials engineering
- Plates
- Polymer
- Pullout behavior
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Structural failures
- Structural members
- Structural strength
- Structural systems
- Synthetic materials
- Uplifting behavior
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