COMPARATIVE APPROACHES TO ASSESS THE STRENGTH OF THERMOPLASTIC GFRP BENT BARS

Composite pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars are increasingly used in civil reinforced concrete construction. Both industry and researchers are working to establish tools for the practical design of GFRP bars. Determining the strength in the bent sections of thermoplastic bars is crucial due to its close relationship with shear capacity and anchorage properties. This paper presents a series of experimental tests on thermoplastic M10 GFRP bars, considering two different bend radii and various testing methods. The experimental findings indicate that different test methods currently yield different and scattered results. Consequently, this can lead to some differences in the determination of the shear capacity of reinforced concrete elements. The comparison of standardized test methods is worthy of investigation. Based on this, the paper proposed a unique method for assessing strength that adequately considers bending effects in thermoplastic bars to facilitate the comparison of the performance of the bent bars.