The paper presents an experimental and finite element investigation of bolted flange-plate with bonded sleeve splice connections for joining pultruded glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) circular tubular beams. The moment-rotation behaviour was investigated in terms of initial rotational stiffness, moment capacity and rotation capacity for all the tested splice connections. The effect of the number of flange-plate bolts, flange-plate thickness and the length of the bonded sleeve were examined. Failure modes for the thinner flange-plates included opening, bending and yielding of the flange-plates in the tension zone. Thicker flange-plates and a higher number of bolts exhibited improved initial rotational stiffness with lower rotational capacity, which can be enhanced by higher bonded sleeve lengths. Available design codes for steel joints were used to classify the splice connections with regards to rigidity and strength. The failure modes from the finite element models were consistent with the experimental observations, which includes the plastic deformation of the flange-plate and the cohesive failure of the adhesive.
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