BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF PULTRUDED GFRP （屈曲分析应用于GFRP）.pdf

BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF PULTRUDED GFRP HOLLOW BOX BEAM Donna CHEN Ph.D. Candidate University of Calgary, Department of Civil Engineering 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada dsmchen@ucalgary.ca Raafat EL-HACHA Associate Professor University of Calgary, Department of Civil Engineering 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada relhacha@ucalgary.ca* Abstract Experimental testing, under monotonic four-point flexural load, of a pultruded Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) hollow box beam section indicated a strong influence of buckling on the ultimate failure mechanism of the beam. Using finite element (FE) methods in the ABAQUS software environment, the experimentally validated model was used to determine the theoretical buckling load and mode shapes. Comparisons between the experimental results and the finite element solution were made, with particular attention towards the incorporation of geometric nonlinearities in the FE analysis and its impact on the accuracy of the solution. It was found that a good approximation of the buckling mechanism can be ascertained using the classic linear elastic eigenvalue approach while including a preceding preload step that takes into consideration large deformation in the initial geometry. Future works will include further investigation into nonlinear buckling analysis techniques, such as Riks method, to eliminate the overestimation of buckling load by the eigenvalue approach. Keywords: Fibre reinforced polymer, finite element, buckling, eigenvalue 1. Introduction The increased implementation of Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRPs), in its wide spectrum of available structural forms, in bridge applications has resulted in a growing number of research topics focus