TY - JOUR

T1 - Testing and analysis of pultruded GFRP continuous beams for the deflection serviceability limit state

AU - Turvey, Geoffrey John

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Composite Structures. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Composite Structures, 141, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.01.055

PY - 2016/5/1

Y1 - 2016/5/1

N2 - An investigation of the deformation response of an unequal two-span pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) wide flange (WF) beam up to the deflection serviceability limit is described. The beam was subjected to vertical point loading at the centre of the longer span. Mid-span deflections, support rotations and outer surface flange strains recorded during major- and minor-axis flexure tests on the beam are presented and shown to be both repeatable and linear. New closed-form shear deformation equations are presented for the forces and displacements of two-span continuous beams of arbitrary span ratio with the longer span subjected to a vertical mid-span point load. The equations have been used to predict the mid-span deflections, support rotations and surface strains recorded during the flexure tests. It is shown that the equations are able to predict the experimental deflections accurately. Depending on the particularsupport, the rotations (particularly the minor-axis rotations) are slightly under/over-estimated and, in general, the surface strains are over-estimated. It is concluded that this investigation provides further confirmation of the utility of shear deformation continuous beam equations for predicting the deformations of pultruded GFRP beams up to the deflection serviceability limit.

AB - An investigation of the deformation response of an unequal two-span pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) wide flange (WF) beam up to the deflection serviceability limit is described. The beam was subjected to vertical point loading at the centre of the longer span. Mid-span deflections, support rotations and outer surface flange strains recorded during major- and minor-axis flexure tests on the beam are presented and shown to be both repeatable and linear. New closed-form shear deformation equations are presented for the forces and displacements of two-span continuous beams of arbitrary span ratio with the longer span subjected to a vertical mid-span point load. The equations have been used to predict the mid-span deflections, support rotations and surface strains recorded during the flexure tests. It is shown that the equations are able to predict the experimental deflections accurately. Depending on the particularsupport, the rotations (particularly the minor-axis rotations) are slightly under/over-estimated and, in general, the surface strains are over-estimated. It is concluded that this investigation provides further confirmation of the utility of shear deformation continuous beam equations for predicting the deformations of pultruded GFRP beams up to the deflection serviceability limit.

KW - GFRP

KW - Multi-span beams

KW - Pultrusions

KW - Serviceability deformations

KW - Shear-deformation analysis

KW - Testing

U2 - 10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.01.055

DO - 10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.01.055

M3 - Journal article

VL - 141

SP - 213

EP - 220

JO - Composite Structures

JF - Composite Structures

SN - 0263-8223

ER -