Strain rate studies of pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer material properties: A literature review

Glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) has been increasingly applied in civil engineering for high-performance durable structural members. Over the last decade or so, pultruded GFRP has become much more widely used due its cost-effective ease of manufacturing. In this paper, the effect of strain rate on the material properties of pultruded GFRP, including elastic modulus, in-plane shear modulus and Poisson's ratio, is reviewed. Experimental studies of each property considering fibre orientation and the applied experimental techniques are critically reviewed. Reference is made to similar studies for laminated FRP. The existing constitutive models are also reviewed and it is shown that disagreement exists when considering the strain rate effect on pultruded GFRP. From this review of both experimental and modelling research, it is concluded that a focus on the dynamic material properties of pultruded GFRP at intermediate strain rates is needed if the behaviour of GFRP structures during earthquake and other sources of vibration excitation is to be fully understood.