Experiments According to ETAG to Determine Friction Effects on Deviated CFRP-Strips

In recent years the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart (ITKE), has undertaken a large amount of experimental work to determine the load bearing capacity, strain responses up to failure and the failure mode of CFRP-Strips at different deviation saddle geometries. Several tests with different deviation angles and deviation saddle radii were carried out. The results have shown that the tensile strength of the CFRP-Strip is reduced significantly by deviation, even if the deviation radius in proportion to the thickness of the CFRP-Strips is comparatively large. Further tests were carried out to determine the influence of other important parameters on the load bearing capacity of the strip such as surface properties of the saddle including the friction of the saddle surface. The results of these tests show that, with the help of a polyethylene layer (HD-PE) between the CFRP-Strip and the deviation saddle friction could be reduced, which lead to an increase in tensile strength. The effect of these parameters on the load bearing capacity of the CFRP-Strip is published in this paper.