Output details

Flexure of pultruded glass-fibre-reinforced polymer beams with bonded splice joints

The important practical issue of bonded splice joints in beams is addressed and the first three-point flexure tests on splice-jointed pultruded GFRP beams are presented. Test data are used to verify new formulae for checking the serviceability limit state of such beams. The formulae are extended to determine optimum/limiting splice joint lengths (information hitherto unavailable), and, hence, establish the efficiency of splice joint designs. Parametric studies, based on the formulae, quantify the relative importance of splice length ratio, splice elastic modulus, splice layout etc on splice joint/splice-jointed beam response and provide additional preliminary design guidance for splice-jointed pultruded GFRP beams.