STUDY ON IMPACT RESPONSES OF PULTRUDED GFRP, STEEL AND ALUMINUM BEAMS BY USING DROP-WEIGHT IMPACT TEST

Abstract

Pultruded glass fiber-reinforced plastic composite (PFRP) structural sections have been used successfullyin a wide range of civil engineering structures such as cooling tower systems and industrial buildings,especially in hostile and corrosive environments. In recent years, the applications of this material havebeen extended into roadside safety structures such as guard rails, bridge rails and sign posts. Thesestructures are mainly subjected to an impact loading which is a complicated process where both structuraland material properties can influence the impact responses of the structures. Also, the impact responsesof the material cannot be predicted from the engineering material properties of the material. In thispaper, an experimental study on the impact responses of the PFRP composites and conventional metalbeams will be presented. The PFRP composite beams were commercially produced by a pultrusionprocess. The experiments were performed on a drop-weight impact-testing machine. The test specimenswill be subjected to low velocity impact with the impact energy of about 40 J for sub-critical energytests and 160 J for critical energy tests. The impact responses, impact energy absorption and failuremodes will be discussed.