EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PULTRUDED FRP SECTION COMBINED WITH CONCRETE SLAB

Abstract

The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites is one of the latest significant developments in the field of bridge construction. FRP composites have been the material of choice in the aerospace industry since 1960s. However, only recently glass FRP composites have been gaining both popularity and acceptance as one of the structural materials of choice because of their high strength and stiffness to weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. This paper demonstrates the possibility of combining composite materials with a low-cost construction material (i.e. concrete) resulting in a new concept of designing lightweight, corrosion immune, yet inexpensive beams having acceptable structural properties. Pultruded FRP beam section-to-concrete slab is proposed to behave under bending as a composite beam. The objectives of the proposed research are to investigate the composite behaviour of FRP members with reinforced concrete slabs and comparing the behaviour of fully encased FRP beams with that of FRP beams mechanically anchored to the concrete. An experimental program was conducted to demonstrate the behaviour of the pultruded FRP beam-toconcrete slab in composite action. Three large scale specimens of 2.25 m length were tested under four-point loading. The first specimen is a pultruded FRP beam used as a control beam. The second specimen consists of pultruded FRP beam-to-concrete slab acting as a composite beam. The third specimen is a fully concrete encased FRP beam. The test results indicated the feasibility of using hybrid FRP-concrete beam to increase the load carrying capacity in flexure as well as beam stiffness. The outcome of this research provides substantial information for both designers and researchers in the field of FRP composites.