Structural Behavior of All-FRP Beam-Column Plate-Bolted Joints

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material is very interesting for its use as the sole material in the construction of structures because of its remarkable lightness, which reduces seismic forces; its ease of assembly; and its durability. All-FRP structures use bolted connections to form nodes between columns and beams, particularly steel bolts. This research focuses on the use of FRP pultruded plates instead of web and flange cleats for bolted beam-to-column joints. Currently, angles and bolts between columns and beams are widely employed, whereas bolted plates are still a novelty. Both experimental and numerical studies of two different configurations of bolted connections made by pultruded plates and C-shape FRP profiles demonstrated that the plates have considerable influence on the moment-rotation response of joints so that the joint's failure mode involves mainly the bolted plate. The experimental program in this paper determined the initial stiffness of each connection, the ultimate moment capacity, and the rotation associated with the ultimate strength. These results were then compared against numerical predictions obtained using a commercial code for finite-element analysis.