Combined Bending with Induced or Applied Torsion of FRP I-Section Beams

摘要

Presented herein is the outcome of an experimental and theoretical study on FRP beams with an I-shaped cross section subjected to four-point loading revealing the significance of lateral bending and warping strains due to practical imperfections. The paper also addresses the problem of combined bending and applied torsion. The results show that, for the case of combined bending and induced torsion, the sum of lateral and warping strains in FRP beams is not negligible even in the presence of only the in-plane or vertical loads. Based on measured strains, tentative strain-slenderness relationships are generated which account for the presence of lateral and warping strains in practical FRP beams. The effects of both induced and applied torsion combined with bending are explained with the help of numerical examples.