Catenary action of GFRP sandwich panels with CFRP catcher system

Abstract eng:
Pultruded glass fiber reinforced polymers remain an under-utilized building material in the structural engineering world. GFRP has unique material properties that necessitate a re-imagination of general structural design practices; in particular design using beam theory is inefficient due to the low shear resistance of FRP in comparison to reinforced concrete, steel and other traditional construction materials. In this paper a method of constraining a pultruded GFRP composite section so that it successfully bypasses flexural failure and exhibits catenary action is investigated as a means to resist an internal explosive charge of maximum 5  kg TNT equivalence. The intention of this was to take advantage of the superior tensile properties of the material and negate the negative effects of the low shear resistance. A  sandwich panel was constructed with GFRP front and back plates and aluminum honeycomb. The honeycomb was lightly adhered to the GFRP plates so as to not significantly increase the flexural stiffness of the FRP panel. The panel was mounted in a pin-pin orientation, allowing rotation at the hinges to allow the specimen to develop a tension membrane. The use of CFRP straps as a “catcher system” was investigated. Three different configurations of CFRP straps were tested, with a varying number of straps adhered to the outermost fiber of the pultruded GFRP. The panel was loaded with an impulse using an airbag; as the panel deformed under load, the airbag continued to remain in uniform contact with the panel. While testing the panels within serviceability loads it is found that the panel successfully exhibited catenary action.

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