Engineering Commons^™

Strengthening Shear Deficient Thin-Walled Steel Beams By Bonding Pultruded Gfrp Sections, Tuna Ulger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rehabilitation and retrofitting methods offer economical and feasible alternatives for upgrading aged and deficient structures. Structural strengthening using Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have been widely investigated by researchers and used in field applications. The main advantage of FRP composites is the superior mechanical properties they offer over traditional structural materials. One novel alternative of these retrofitting methods was developed at Louisiana State University and called “Strengthening-by-Stiffening” (SBS). In SBS, the external strengthening of shear deficient thin-walled steel structures is achieved by bonding pultruded FRP sections to buckling prone web panels. Contrary to the commonly used uniaxial tension resistance of …