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Bending of glass fibre-reinforced plastic (GFRP) plates on elastic supports

Part I: Material characteristics

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Abstract

This study is concerned with the mechanical properties of a fibreglass reinforced polyester resin of laminar construction with consideration given to the application of the results to the analysis, in bending, of a plate of similar material.

Tension and compression tests were performed to obtain the stress-strain relationship and ultimate stresses and strains. Because of the inherent scatter of results due to the nature of the material, average values, along with maximum and minimum limits, are determined. Flexural tests were conducted and moment-curvature relationships were obtained both theoretically and experimentally. Creep tests showed that, for loads well below the failure load, creep effects are almost negligible when the fibres are oriented to the longitudinal axis of the specimen. As the results in bending are not as scattered as those for tension and compression, this leads one to believe that they might be more appropriate for use in plate theory.

Résumé

On étudie les propriétés mécaniques d’une rśine polyester renforcée de fibres de verre et de structures laminaires, en ayant en vue l’application des résultats à l’étude en flexion d’une plaque d’un matériau similaire.

Les essais de traction et de compression ont été réalisés afin d’obtenir la relation contrainte/déformation ainsi que les contrainteses et déformations ultimes. La nature du matériau déterminant une dispersion des résultats, on a fixé des valeurs moyennes comportant des limites maximales et minimales. On a réalisé des essais de flexion tant théoriques qu’expérimentaux, et obtenu des relations moment-courbure. Les essais de fluage montrent que pour des charges nettement au-dessous de la charge de rupture les effets du fluage sont presque négligeables si les fibres sont disposées longitudinalement dans l’éprouvette. Comme les résultats en flexion sont moins dispersés que ceux obtenus en traction et en compression, on peut supposer qu’ils se prêtent mieux à être utilisés dans la théorie des plaques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    T. H. Topper

  2. EPF Lausanne, Switzerland and University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    A. N. Sherbourne

  3. Formerly Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    V. Saari

Authors
  1. T. H. Topper
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  2. A. N. Sherbourne
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  3. V. Saari
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Topper, T.H., Sherbourne, A.N. & Saari, V. Bending of glass fibre-reinforced plastic (GFRP) plates on elastic supports. Mat. Constr. 11, 75–91 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478954

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