Experimental and analytical investigation of two- and six-plate bonded splice joints on serviceability limit deformations of pultruded GFRP beams

Six four-point flexure tests on 3 m span pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) 152 × 152 × 6.4 mm Wide Flange (WF) beams with two- and six-plate mid-span bonded splice joints are described. The pultruded GFRP splice plates were 6.4 mm thick with two widths and three lengths and their rovings were parallel to their lengths. The beams were loaded to their deflection serviceability limit. Mid-span deflections, support rotations and splice joint end rotations were recorded. Their load versus deflection and support rotation responses were linear and repeatable. New shear-deformable beam equations were used to predict the spliced beam deformations. For major-axis flexure, deflections were predicted reasonably accurately for both joint layouts when the beam’s experimentally determined longitudinal elastic modulus was used. Major and minor-axis support rotations were predicted with maximum errors of 15% and 25% respectively. Generally, splice joint rotational stiffnesses were poorly predicted.