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  • rev8 Gravity Load Simulator paper

    Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in 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 Structures, 26, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.istruc.2020.03.052

    Accepted author manuscript, 936 KB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND

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The gravity load simulator – Re-visited

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/08/2020
<mark>Journal</mark>structures
Volume26
Number of pages10
Pages (from-to)204-213
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date17/04/20
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

A review of loading arrangements for lateral buckling tests on pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) beams is presented. It is suggested that the Gravity Load Simulator (GLS), used for similar tests on steel beams could also be used for lateral buckling tests on GFRP beams and, moreover, it could be analysed and designed using exact calculations rather than the iterative method used more than 50 years ago. This conclusion is demonstrated by re-analysing the old iteratively designed GLS. The exact analysis is then used to analyse and design a new GLS for lateral buckling tests on pultruded GFRP beams. The new GLS was fabricated from aluminium bar and plate and details of its overall dimensions and layout and the types of bearings used in its pin joints are described. Thereafter, the test arrangement and instrumentation used to demonstrate the GLS's accuracy, i.e. maintaining the horizontal translation of the jack's base as the GLS sways in the lateral buckling plane, is presented. It is shown that the GLS performs extremely well and its use in laboratory testing is illustrated.

Bibliographic note

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in 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 Structures, 26, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.istruc.2020.03.052