Polymer Based Filler Materials as Infill for GFRP Pile Connector

Abstract

Recently glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) tubular piles have been developed for civil engineering applications instead of conventional concrete piles. Considering their suitable applications, the new polymer based filling materials are being developed at the University of Southern Queensland as a part of work done for timber pile rehabilitation. This ongoing project aims to replace portion of the deteriorated timber pile by using GFRP piles. Due to good compressive strength, pumpability and workability, the new polymer base materials are to be filled in between GFRP pile and existing timber pile base. An ongoing research program has been initiated to improve fundamental understanding of these materials and to provide the knowledge required for their broad utilization. In this development, sample trial mixes were considered based on several weight percentages of polymer resin, fly ash and sand. Material parameters such as compressive strength, stiffness, shrinkage and gel time were achieved from the experimental investigation. It has been found that most polymer based trial mixed fillers have high compressive strength and considerable plastic region with more than 10% strain. These results imply that the polymer based filling materials are suitable for both compression and tensile loading situations. However, the behaviour of fillers with GFRP pile connector under different loading conditions is yet to be fully understood.