Stress–Strain Behaviour Of A Pultruded Gfrp Frame for A Low-Rise 3d-Printed Building Accounting for Joint Flexibility and Shear Deformation A Parametric Finite Element Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajet/Volume08Issue10-03Keywords:
Pultruded GFRP, glass-fibre-reinforced polymer, composite frameAbstract
The stress–strain behaviour of a two-storey load-bearing frame for a low-rise building, comprising pultruded glass-fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) hollow sections and intended for use with non-load-bearing 3D-printed walls, is investigated. The study aims to quantify the effects of joint rotational flexibility, transverse shear and the bracing system on frame displacements, internal forces, elastic stability and dynamic characteristics. A two-dimensional finite element model of a three-bay, two-storey frame measuring 10.8 × 6.0 m is developed. The columns, beams and diagonal braces have cross-sections of 200 × 200 × 12 mm, 300 × 150 × 12 mm and 100 × 100 × 8 mm, respectively. Members are represented by Timoshenko beam theory, beam-to-column connections by rotational springs, and geometric stability by a generalised eigenvalue problem. Braced and unbraced configurations are analysed over a range of joint stiffnesses, from pinned to idealised rigid connections. At the baseline stiffness kθ = 15 MN·m/rad, the roof displacement under the adopted storey-force pattern is 59.44 mm for the unbraced frame and 2.87 mm for the braced frame; the maximum interstorey drift ratio decreases from 10.76 to 0.51 ‰. The critical load factor increases from 10.49 to 80.41, while the fundamental vibration period decreases from 1.040 to 0.228 s. Under a uniformly distributed load of 12.6 kN/m, the calculated deflection of an isolated beam with kθ = 15 MN·m/rad is 3.82 mm, of which 1.03 mm, or 26.9%, is attributable to transverse shear. The bracing subsystem is shown to virtually eliminate the sensitivity of global displacement to uncertainty in the rotational stiffness of frame joints, whereas assuming rigid connections in the unbraced configuration can substantially distort the results. Requirements for the analytical model and multilevel experimental verification are formulated.
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