Experimental characterization of a pultruded GFRP bridge deck for light-weight vehicles

A composite bridge deck system assembled from a modular profile with double-rectangular cells has been developed for light-weight vehicles. This paper presents the experimental characterization of the flexural performance of pultruded GFRP decks under static loading. Several tests were carried on single module and adhesively bonded modules. The specimen details such as dimensions, material properties and fiber architecture are given. Numerical verification is performed by using the general purpose finite element package ABAQUS. Experimental set-up, instrumentation, testing procedure, failure modes and the results of these experiments have been discussed in detail. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.