BONDING SPLICE BEHAVIOUR AND FAILURE MODE ABOUT DAMAGED GFRP PLATE

Abstract

 In this study, conducted are a uniaxial tensile test and FE analysis using GFRP plates bonded with repair plates. The tensile test was conducted with two types of GFRP plates that is intact case and damaged case with crack. It is known that the strength of the damaged GFRP plate can be enhanced by bonding repair plate, but it is still lower than the intact GFRP plate. It is also confirmed that bonding repair plate decreases the strength of the GFRP plate even if a GFRP plate has no damage. It is also shown that two types of failure mode classified into debonding of the repair plate and brittle failure of the GFRP plate. FE analysis concluded the reason why the tensile test showed two types of failure mode. FEA showed that bonding repair plate cause stress concentration on the surface of the GFRP plate. This is thought to be the reason why the GFRP plate cause brittle failure before the repair plate cause debonding. Finally, the applicability of failure criteria for composite materials is assessed with respect to the repaired test piece. It is obtained that these criteria underestimated the danger of failure when the fibre failure occurred.