Residual strength testing in pultruded FRP material under a variety of temperature cycles and values

Abstract

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. This research evaluates the effects of various elevated temperature cycles and peaks on the compression behaviour of pultruded fibre reinforce polymer (FRP) samples as a means of highlighting the durability and strength of FRP material under conditions designed to replicate considerable environmental duress. The performance of the temperature affected samples are then compared with control samples not subjected to the temperature cycles in order to evaluate the effects of temperature on both the load compression achieved and any surface or material degradation as a result of the temperature cycles. The analysed FRP samples were physically characterised by a very low slenderness value in order to avoid potential local instability which characterises FRP pultruded materials. Strain-gauges were used to evaluate the trend of local deformation of the samples both in the direction of the pultruded fibres and orthogonally to them. Finite element analysis was then used to validate the experimental data also with the specific failure criteria adopted. Results suggest that even after considerable cycles of high temperature, the FRP samples still exhibited significant performance durability with relatively small impacts from material stiffness and strain effects suggesting an inherent durability and sustainability under conditions of extended environmental duress.