Pine Beams Retrofitted with FRP and Poplar Planks: Mechanical Behavior

Francisco J Rescalvo; Chihab Abarkane; Elisabet Suárez; Ignacio Valverde-Palacios; Antolino Gallego

doi:10.3390/ma12193081

Pine Beams Retrofitted with FRP and Poplar Planks: Mechanical Behavior

Materials (Basel). 2019 Sep 21;12(19):3081. doi: 10.3390/ma12193081.

Authors

Francisco J Rescalvo¹, Chihab Abarkane², Elisabet Suárez³, Ignacio Valverde-Palacios⁴, Antolino Gallego⁵

Affiliations

¹ Building Engineering School, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n., 18071 Granada, Spain. rescalvo@ugr.es.
² Building Engineering School, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n., 18071 Granada, Spain. chihab@ugr.es.
³ Building Engineering School, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n., 18071 Granada, Spain. elisabetsv@ugr.es.
⁴ Building Engineering School, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n., 18071 Granada, Spain. nachoval@ugr.es.
⁵ Building Engineering School, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n., 18071 Granada, Spain. antolino@ugr.es.

Abstract

The paper presents an experimental analysis of the bending behavior of pine beams (Pinus Sylvester) retrofitted with fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) and poplar planks used as external covering. Poplar wood was chosen because of its rapid growth in planted forests, its homogeneity and attributes for sustainable local development, and high CO₂ absorption rate. Vibration tests were also conducted in order to evaluate the stiffness in a non-destructive way and compare it with that obtained by means of the destructive tests. Three types of reinforcement were compared, namely: basalt fabric (FB), carbon fabric (FC) and carbon laminate (LC). In addition, some pine beams were reinforced only with poplar planks and used as control specimens in order to evaluate the improvement provided by the FRP. It was observed that a strong delamination preceded the final breakage of beam. Moreover, the results indicated that stiffness is provided mainly by the poplar plank and not by the FRP, as was expected.

Keywords: FRP; composites; mechanical behavior; pine wood beams; poplar wood.