Abstract
Composite structures have become increasingly popular in civil engineering due to many advantages, such as light weight, excellent corrosion resistance and high productivity. However, they still lack the strength, stiffness, and convenience of constructions of fastener connections in steel structures. The most popular fastener connections in steel structures are slip-critical connections, and the major factors that influence their strength are the slip factors between faying surfaces and the clamping force due to the prevailing torque. This paper therefore examined the effect that changing the following parameters had on the slip factor: (1) replacing glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) cover plates with stainless-steel cover plates; (2) adopting different surface treatments for GFRP-connecting plates and stainless-steel cover plates, respectively; and (3) applying different prevailing torques to the high-strength bolts. The impact on the long-term effects of the creep property in composite elements under the pressure of high-strength bolts was also studied with pre-tension force relaxation tests. It is shown that a high-efficiency fastener connection can be obtained by using stainless-steel cover plates with a grit-blasting surface treatment, with the maximum slip factor reaching 0.45, while the effects of the creep property are negligible.
Highlights
We focus on to the effects of the cover plate, surface treatment, and prevailing torque on the slip factor and long-term performance of slip-critical connections in composite structures
It is necessary to examine the effect of the creep deformation of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) plates on the strength of the slip-critical connections
A load drop did not occur in on the GFRP connecting plate and the GFRP powder ploughed by embedded asperities were left on the load–displacement curve of the G60#-S24# connection compared to the load–displacement the stainless-steel cover plate surface
Summary
Adhesive bonds achieve good load distribution in composite connections, they remain vulnerable to the service temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions In combination joints, both adhesives and bolted connections are used, which can provide greater reliability and shear resistance and increases the difficulty of construction. Feo et al [3] introduced four typologies of connections for composite structures and selected a slip-critical connection to conduct shear tests This connection has a somewhat complicated layout, with two steel connecting plates, double pultruded fiber reinforced plastic (PFRP). Simple bolted assemblies for PFRP plates would lose more than 40% of the bearing capacity during their service life-time To address these issues, Hashimoto et al [5] added stainless-steel cover plates with a grit-blasting treatment to (glass fiber reinforced plastic) GFRP–GFRP slip-critical connections and concluded that the slip factor for this type of connection can reach 0.4, and. Based on the adhesion theory of friction, explanations of the working mechanism of the connection are offered
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