Joint Strength of Single-Bolted Pultruded GFRP Square Hollow Sections with Mechanical Inserts under Elevated Temperatures
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 24, Issue 1
Abstract
The sensitivity of the joint performance of pultruded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) to elevated temperatures has been known to limit the widespread application of FRP composites in civil construction. This paper presents a study of the effect of elevated temperatures and mechanical inserts on the joint strength and failure mechanism of a square hollow section (SHS) of pultruded glass FRP (GFRP) composites. Three pultruded GFRP bolted joint configurations were implemented— namely, a joint without mechanical insert (N), a joint with mechanical insert with tight-fit attachment (I), and a joint with mechanical insert bonded with epoxy adhesive (G). Sixty (60) square pultruded GFRPs with a single all-threaded bolt connection each were tested up to failure at room temperature 40°C, 60°C, and 80°C. Specimen G exhibited the highest joint strength, with twice more than that of Specimen N across the temperature range. Specimens N and I failed by shear-out at high temperatures mainly due to the deterioration of the interfacial bond between the fibers and the matrix. The strength reduction factor, , and modification factor, , which incorporate the increasing temperatures and the designed joint configurations showed excellent agreement when compared to the experimental results.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from the Australian Research Council through the Discovery scheme (DP180102208). The first author gratefully acknowledges the Australian Commonwealth Government for the contribution through the Research Training Program (RTP) scheme. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Wagner Composite Fiber Technologies (WCFT) for the testing materials and experimental data supplied. Special thanks must go to Dr. Mario Springolo and Mr. Wayne Crowell for their testing support and Dr. Barbara Harmes for her editorial support to the manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 24 • Issue 1 • February 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 22, 2018
Accepted: May 2, 2019
Published online: Nov 7, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Apr 7, 2020
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