Performance Analysis of GFRP/Steel Composite Box Beams

Abstract

To overcome the inadequacy such as the low stiffness, the weak shear capacity, brittle failure and the big initial cost in all FRP box beam, and to make use of the benefits of steel such as the high stiffness, the strong shear capacity, good ductility and the low cost, a new type of GFRP/steel composite box beam was proposed. A given GFRP box beam was used to investigate the effects of adding steel volume ratio (the ratio of steel volume to the total volume in the adding section) on the performance of the GFRP box beam by theoretical calculation, and the adding sections of steel plates for GFRP box beam included top and bottom flanges, and all cross-section, respectively. The analytical results indicate that the performance of GFRP box beam increases dramatically and the cost of beam remains almost unchanged after adding steel plates. At the same time, the performance of GFRP box beam is obviously more excellent by adding steel plates into the all cross-section compared with top and bottom flanges.