FBG-Based Creep Analysis of GFRP Materials Embedded in Concrete

This paper presents a typical study regarding the creep interaction behavior between prestressed glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bar and concrete when this GFRP bar is subjected to a constant external pullout force. A number of optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors were mounted on GFRP bar surface by using an innovative installation method to measure strain distributions. Test results indicate that the complicated interaction at GFRP bar-concrete interface can be evaluated using a transitional factor. Variation trends of this transitional factor indicate three typical zones characterized by different strain/stress variation trends of the GFRP bar when prestress values are sustained at specific levels. These three typical zones include stress release zone, stress transition zone, and continuous tension zone. Test results also suggest that the instant stress loss at the interaction interface between concrete and GFRP bar was quite limited (less than 5%) in present test. Contributed proportion of each GFRP bar section was obtained to represent the creep behavior of the GFRP bar embedded in concrete. This investigation improved the understanding of the short-term interaction behavior between prestressed GFRP bar and concrete.