Creep behavior of basalt fiber reinforced polymer tendons for prestressing application

This paper investigates the creep behavior of newly developed basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) tendons for prestressing application. The creep strain to time relationship, creep rate and residual strength were experimentally studied and the relevant mechanism was elaborated. Furthermore, the creep rupture stress was predicted based on statistical analysis. The results show that the creep strain to time relationship of BFRP tendons depends highly on the stress level applied. The creep rate of BFRP tendons under low levels of stress remains in low and steady values. Meanwhile, the residual strength of BFRP after 1000 h of sustained load still reaches approximately 95% of its initial tensile strength and the corresponding coefficient of variation (CV) is much less than the original CV. For prestressing application, the creep rupture stress limit for BFRP tendons can be adopted up to 52% of its tensile strength according to the reliability based analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.