Finite-Element Analysis of Tapered Steel and Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Bridge Camera Poles

Abstract

This paper presents experimental and finite element investigations of the load-deformation behavior of tapered steel and fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) bridge camera poles subjected to cantilever bending type loading. Three full-scale experimental tests are conducted on one tapered octagonal steel cross section and two FRP circular cross-section poles to identify their load deformation characteristics. Three-dimensional isoparametric finite-element models of the poles are developed by considering the nonlinear coupling behavior between material, contact, and geometric effects. The elastoplastic solid elements with eight nodes are employed for the effective three-dimensional finite-element modeling and analysis. A surface-to-surface contact algorithm is used to simulate the interaction between contact surfaces. An energy-based convergence criterion is adopted to obtain the converged coupled nonlinear solutions. The obtained load-deformation results from finite-element analyses are compared with those of the experiments. The behavior of the finite-element models is examined by observing the effects of individual geometric variables on the load-deformation characteristics of the poles.