Large-Span Woven Web Structure Made of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative large-span roof system, namely the fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) woven web structure (WWS). A FRP WWS is composed of light-weight, high-strength, and corrosion-resistant FRP strips that are “woven” into a web in a desirable pattern. The two ends of each FRP strip are anchored on an inner ring beam and an outer ring beam, respectively. During the construction process, the inner ring beam is forced to move out-of-plane by a set of prestressed tendons or by a heavy mass suspended from the inner ring beam, which induces tension in the FRP web and imparts geometric stiffness to the web to resist a variety of external loads. In this paper, the basic layout, the strip anchorage system, and the construction scheme of a simple FRP WWS are first presented, followed by a description of some more complex forms of the FRP WWS. A matrix approach for the mathematical description of the three-dimensional geometric configuration of the FRP WWS is next proposed, which provides a tool to ensure the most compact assembly of strips into a roof structure. The response of strips within a WWS and that of the whole structure are finally examined, which confirms the feasibility of the FRP WWS.