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Abstract

An experimental investigation concerning the buckling behaviour of pultruded fibre-reinforced plastic (PFRP) columns is presented. Full-sized tests were performed on wide-flange pultruded members across a range of lengths where local, global and combined buckling modes were expected. Combined buckling describes the situation where the local and global buckling modes occur concurrently in a violent and unstable manner. The research aims to provide test data that increase understanding of modal coupling in concentrically loaded columns. Modal coupling effects cause a reduction in the buckling load of imperfect columns and can lead to combined buckling. The extent to which mode interaction reduces the column buckling load is highly dependent on the magnitude of the imperfections present. Great care was taken during the experiments to ensure that the applied load was truly concentric, so that any interaction would be due to column imperfections alone. The geometrical column imperfections were measured prior to testing. The influence of mode interaction observed during the tests was found to be less than previous research had suggested. The experimental results will be used in future to prepare guidance for code writers and designers.

Keywords

fibre-reinforced plastic wide-flange columns concentric loading local and global buckling mode interaction

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Influence of modal coupling on the buckling of concentrically loaded pultruded fibre-reinforced plastic columns

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