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A Life Prediction Methodolgy for Thick Section Composites Used in Civil Infrastructure

Jolyn Senne, John J. Lesko and Scott W. Case

As fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) structures find application in highway bridge structures, methodologies for describing their long-term performance under service loading will be a necessity for designers. The designer of FRP bridge structures will be faced with out-of-plane damage and delamination at ply interfaces. The damage most often occurs between hybrid plys and dominates the life time response of a thick section FRP structure. In this discussion a model is developed to address these issues. The methodology employs the quadratic delamination initiation failure criteria, in conjunction with a delamination growth law to describe the out-of-plane damage under bending. These phenomena are combined with the critical element residual strength life prediction tool to determine remaining bending stiffness and moment capacity of a pultruded and hybrid FRP 20.3 cm deep structural shape. The model successfully describes the onset of delamination prior to fiber failure and suggests that out-of-plane failure controls the life of the structure.