Abstract
An investigation was carried out to examine the effect of reinforcement on the creep behaviour of FRP timber elements in a controlled variable climate. Creep is accelerated by moisture variations in a variable climate. This is termed the mechano-sorptive effect. In this paper, both unreinforced and reinforced beams are subjected to long-term creep tests with a common maximum compressive stress of 8 MPa. The relative humidity of the variable climate was cycled between 65% and 90% every four weeks while the temperature remained constant at 20 ± 2°C. The results after 75 weeks demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in total elastic and creep deflection in the reinforced beams. It was found that this reduction is primarily due to the restrained hygro-mechanical response of the reinforced beams.
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2018) |
| Place of Publication | Seoul, Korea |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2018 |
Authors (Note for portal: view the doc link for the full list of authors)
- Authors
- O'Ceallaigh, C., Sikora, K., McPolin, D., Harte, A.M