Effects of Cross-Sectional Size and Shape on the Longitudinal Tensile and Anchoring Properties of CFRP Cables

Abstract

Carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP) is very suitable for use as a prestressed cable and can replace conventional steel cables in cable roofs. In engineering practice, the anchoring length increases rapidly as the cross-sectional area of the CFRP cable increases, owing to the strong orthotropy of unidirectional CFRP material, which inevitably leads to an increase in the weight of anchorages. As a part of the cable roof, an excessive increase in the weight of anchorages offsets the advantage of the light weight of CFRP cables and impedes the improvement of the span of CFRP cable roofs. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of the cross-sectional size and shape on the anchoring length of CFRP cables for striking a balance between the anchoring properties and weight of anchorages. In this study, a series of static tensile tests were conducted on various sizes of CFRP pultruded plates and rods. Based on experimental results and anchoring forms, the anchoring lengths of CFRP plates and rods are calculated and analyzed. Optimized cross-sectional design sizes of CFRP cables are proposed to obtain a highly efficient anchoring length. This is a critical design step for controlling the weight of anchorages before the application of full-scale CFRP cable roofs in engineering practice. The results of this research can help to promote the widespread and standardized application of CFRP cables in cable roofs.