HYGROTHERMAL DURABILITY OF ADHESIVELY BONDED FRP/STEEL JOINTS
Paper in proceeding, 2015

The use of fiber reinforce polymer, FRP, bonding to strengthen and repair deteriorated steel structures is increasing owing to its unique advantages over traditional strengthening and repair techniques. However, the lack of knowledge regarding environmental durability of adhesively bonded FRP/steel joints still hinders the widespread application of this method in steel structures. A number of studies have reported significant degradation of mechanical properties of these joints in hot and wet environments. In addition to that, the mechanisms of failure have been observed empirically to change from cohesive failure in the adhesive to apparent interfacial failure with increasing amount of moisture. This study presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation to predict the mechanical behavior of FRP/steel joints after hygrothermal aging. First, moisture diffusion kinetics and mechanical degradation of a two-part commercially available epoxy adhesive and Carbon FRP material were experimentally characterized over a wide range of temperature and humidity conditions. These parameters were then incorporated in a coupled 3D diffusion-mechanical finite element, FE, model. In addition, bonded double-lap shear joints of CFRP/steel were aged for up to a year and tested to failure. It is found that the presence of moisture for less than a critical period can increase the joint strength. However, prolonged exposure to the same moisture content degrades the load-carrying capacity of the joint.

Long-term performance

Fiber reinforced polymer

Double lap shear joint.

Coupled FE analysis

FE simulation

Moisture diffusion

Adhesive joints

Author

Mohsen Heshmati

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering

Reza Haghani Dogaheh

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering

Mohammad Al-Emrani

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering

Implementing Innovative Ideas in Structural Engineering and Project Management

75-80
978-0-9960437-1-7 (ISBN)

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Transport

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Materials Science

Subject Categories

Infrastructure Engineering

Environmental Analysis and Construction Information Technology

Building Technologies

Composite Science and Engineering

Infrastructure

C3SE (Chalmers Centre for Computational Science and Engineering)

DOI

10.14455/isec.res.2015.162

ISBN

978-0-9960437-1-7

More information

Latest update

3/2/2022 6