Preliminary Experimental and Finite-Element Numerical Assessment of the Structural Performance of SMA-Reinforced GFRP Systems
- 1 Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal
- 2 University of Trieste, Italy
Abstract
In this study, the feasibility and potentiality of a novel design concept is explored by means of small scale experimental tests and Finite-Element numerical simulation. Taking advantage of the intrinsic potentiality of Shape-Memory Alloys wires able to work as adaptive actuators when subjected to joule heating, a 'smart-GFRP' concept consisting in Glass-Fiber-Reinforced-Polymer (GFRP) structural members with a SMA reinforcement is preliminary assessed. As shown, as far as the working temperature increases, important structural benefits can be achieved in terms of overall performance of the proposed composite systems. The potentiality of the same design concept is then further assessed by means of a practical calculation example.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajeassp.2016.692.701
Copyright: © 2016 Filipe Amarante dos Santos and Chiara Bedon. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Keywords
- Shape-Memory Alloys (SMA)
- Glass-Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)
- Composite Systems
- Smart-GFRP Design Concept
- Active Control Systems
- Experimental Tests
- Finite-Element Numerical Modelling