Jointing Tubular FRP Components for Planar and Space Grid Structure Constructions

摘要

Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials have demonstrated their advantages in variousrnapplications for the rehabilitation and repair of existing concrete and steel structures because ofrntheir light weight and high strength and excellent corrosion resistance. With the help of thernpultrusion process, tubular shapes made using FRP composites provide similar sectional geometriesrnto steel profiles. This paper explores the potential of tubular FRP profiles as construction membersrnto form planar and space grid structures. In such structures, the structural members arerninterconnected at a space node transferring loads axially, where tubular FRP profiles exhibit theirrnbest material strength. An innovative joint configuration is developed in this paper to connectrncircular FRP tubes for planar and space grid structures. The concept here is to incorporate a tubularrnsteel connector into the FRP member through adhesive bonding at one end and the other end of thernsteel connector is flattened, enabling its simple connection with other structural members usingrnmechanical bolts. With the help of a novel joint connector, such GFRP components were assembledrninto two space truss units which were then tested statically. During the experiments, the loaddisplacementrnresponses were recorded. For the first structural unit, failure occurred at the low chordrnjoints in a ductile manner, because of the premature separation of the joint connector. The jointrnconnector was therefore adhesively bonded into one piece in the second structural unit, and thisrnmodification demonstrated a significant improvement of load-carrying capacity. Furtherrnimprovement of joint capacity is expected through the improvement of bonding quality or thernintegrated manufacture of the joint connector.