Authors: P. Brandão, A. Pais, M. Figueiredo, R. Guedes, A. T. Marques

This work studies the durability of composite pultruded profiles, aiming for an approach of a designer to increase the in-service lifetime of a pultruded glass fiber reinforced polymer (pGFRP) profiles. Experimental three-point bending tests were done to obtain the properties of the material. Then, short-term creep tests at high loading levels measured the time to failure of the profile. The creep compliance of the profile was well captured by linear Findley’s model. Finally, the influence of water absorption was assessed using short-term creep tests.

P. Brandão1 | A. Pais¹ | M. Figueiredo¹ | R. Guedes¹ | A. T. Marques¹
1Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal