The effects of glass fiber sheet lamination on the connection strength of single-bolted pultruded glass fiber reinforced polymer profiles

In this study, a series of experiments and finite element analyses were conducted to investigate the effects of glass fiber sheet (GFS) lamination on the strength of pin-bearing single-bolted pultruded glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (PGFRP) connections. In the experiments, nine types of GFS lamination were molded using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding method (VaRTM) and bonded onto the surfaces of PGFRP members. Then, four different end distances of PGFRP plates to bolt diameters (e/d) were surveyed, ranging from 3 to 6. The results indicated that all types of GFS lamination offered excellent improvement effects for the ultimate loads of the PGFRP connections. The strengthening effects were better when the connections had smaller e/d values. In addition, external 0 degrees/90 degrees GFSs provided the best performance for GFS-strengthened PGFRP connections with medium e/d values. Finally, it was demonstrated that finite element analysis (FEA) could be a useful method for predicting the failure loads of GFS-strengthened PGFRP connections.