IMPACT BEHAVIOR OF PULTRUDED COMPOSITE BOX-BEAMS

Fiber reinforced plastics lack design codes and appropriate specificat ions far the structural engineer to use these materials as a construct ion material. The need for the development of definitive guidance and criteria for the design and performance of fiber reinforced plastics a nd composite materials is essential for widespread applications of the se materials. This investigation, like many others, is expected to con tribute to the better understanding of the behavior of fiber reinforce d plastics. The findings of an experimental study are presented here. The study focuses on the effect of velocity on the impact behavior of pultruded composite box-beams. The investigation concentrates on deter mining the critical design parameters for using pultruded box-beams as roadside barriers. A standard drop weight MTS machine is used for the impact tests. All tests specimens are simply supported and are impact ed at mid-span. Static tests and impact tests at different impact velo cities are performed to determine the loading rate sensitivity of the pultruded box-beams. In addition, the effect of the impact velocity on the failure mode is investigated. Two different resin systems are con sidered. These resins are polyester and vinylester. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.