Hybridization Effectiveness in Improving Local Buckling Capacity of Pultruded I-Beams

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of utilizing hybridization to improve the local buckling capacity of pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wide flange I-beams loaded in bending. The compression flange of the beam was considered to be a hybrid of glass and carbon fibers employing several hybridization patterns. A finite element model of a simply supported I-beam loaded in bending was built and a parametric study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of each of the proposed hybridization patterns. The study results showed that significantly higher buckling loads and stiffness can be gained if a proper hybridization pattern is employed.

Keywords:

• FRP
• pultruded composites
• hybridization
• local buckling
• I-beams
• glass fibers
• carbon fibers

Notes

*See Figure 2