FLEXURAL FATIGUE CHARACTERISTICS OF FRP SANDWICH BEAMS

The flexural fatigue characteristics of FRP sandwich beams are investi gated. The skins of the beams are made from hybrid glass-aramid fibres set in epoxy resin and the core material is made from linear PVC foam . The beams under investigation have practical applications in marine operations. The applied load is uniformly distributed throughout the l ength of the beam which is simply supported. From both static and fati gue tests, it is revealed that the failure occurred in the core due to excessive shear, in turn, resulting in large deflections. An empirica l expression is derived to postulate a failure criterion.