Experimental and Analytical Investigation on Elastic Properties of Pultruded GFRP

Abstract

Over the last decades, pultruded glass fibre-reinforced polymers (GFRP) have emerged as a viable alternative to traditional materials for use in various structural applications. The remarkable strength-to-weight ratio and durability against environmental effects (such as corrosion) are, in fact, appealing properties that have the potential to allow for improved design of horizontal and vertical infrastructure. However, the relatively low stiffness and strength in the direction orthogonal to the fibres currently hampers the widespread adoption of GFRP structural elements for civil engineering applications. Even though a substantial amount of experimental work is available in literature, there still is a need for a better characterization of the effects of fibres orientation on mechanical properties of Pultruded GFRP elements. For this reason, the work presented herein investigates the mechanical behaviour of pultruded GFRP beams using analytical methods. First, experimental results from a small-scale campaign conducted by the authors will be presented. Such results will then be used to validate the analytical model and compare the results in terms of elastic stiffness vs. fibres orientation.