Mechanical and Fracture Properties of Steel/GFRP Hybrid Panels for an Improved Moveable Weir after Exposure to Accelerated Natural Environmental Conditions

Abstract

This study evaluated the performance of a hybrid panel in an improved moveable weir after exposure to accelerated environmental climate conditions. When exposed to a river environment, corrosion problems on improved moveable weir steel panels can occur. To address this, a hybrid panel with structure layering glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) panels on both sides of the steel panel was used. The steel was, therefore, not exposed to the outside. However, this hybrid panel is a structure that uses a mixture of two materials with different properties and there is the possibility of performance degradation when the GFRP composite material, i.e., the structure that wraps around the bond interface, and the steel panel are exposed to a river environment. Thus, we evaluated the durability of the hybrid panels by repeated exposure to long-term high temperatures, dry–wet environmental cycling, long-term freezing, and freeze–thaw cycling in an accelerated climate deterioration environment. In the flexural tests, the surface processing of the steel panel was shown to be important, with sand-blasted test specimens showing higher flexural strength. For the control specimens, the flexural strength decreased as the thickness of the GFRP panels increased. However, for the sand-blasted specimens, the flexural strength increased as the thickness of the GFRP panels increased. After exposure to accelerated climate deterioration, the flexural strength tests showed that the residual strength increased with panel thickness and that the residual strengths were greater for specimens incorporating sand-blasted steel panels. The results of our testing show that hybrid panels incorporating sand-blasted steel were adequate for use in improved moveable weirs.