Pin-bearing strengths for design of bolted connections in pultruded structures

Abstract

Presented in this paper are pin-bearing strengths of pultruded FRP materials that are required to check for bearing resistance when designing bolted connections. Bearing failure is the distinct failure mode with a strength formula that requires its 'own' material strength property, which we call the bearing strength. Using a test method developed at the University of Warwick a series of pin-bearing strength tests have been conducted to characterise the web material from a 203 mm × 203 mm × 9.53 mm wide flange standard shape. Testing is performed with the loading oriented at either 0, 45 or 90° to the direction of pultrusion. Reported are the salient test results and characteristic values determined using the guidance in Annex D to Eurocode 0. © Tsinghua University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.