Open AccessEffect of End-to-End Connectors in Elastic GFRP Gridshell
Author(s) -
Kedar Prasad Baral,
Bin Cheng,
Sheng Xiang,
Suraksha Sharma
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/758/1/012051
Subject(s) - cable gland , fibre reinforced plastic , structural engineering , bending , deformation (meteorology) , materials science , composite material , engineering , mechanical engineering
The presence of end-to-end connectors for lengthening the glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) pipes in elastic gridshell causes imperfections in the structure. Such geometrical imperfections alter the structural properties of members and affect the overall performance of the structure. Hence, for a comprehensive analysis of such structures, the aforementioned imperfections need to be acknowledged. In this study, an equivalent rigid part (ERP) for the connector was proposed for taking into account the effect of connectors in the structural analysis. The applicability of ERP for predicting the deformation of structural members was first verified by bending beam models. A typical GFRP elastic gridshell was further utilized for investigating the effects of connectors (with two different arrangement) in the shape and stress of the structure. Results show that proposed ERP is practicable for simplifying the end-to-end connectors in the structural analysis model. Significant differences in results were found between the analysis with and without the consideration of end-to-end connectors, and therefore the effect of connectors should be considered during structural analysis of elastic gridshell.