Accelerated aging and fatigue effects on GFRP grids

In recent decades, the use of composite materials for upgrading and consolidation of historical masonry building has been extensively studied. Whilst there are numerous experimental results that demonstrate their effectiveness in terms of increase in capacity of the strengthened elements, much remains to be known about durability of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites as related to civil infrastructure applications. In this work, mechanical characteristics of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) specimens have been evaluated. Tensile tests have been carried out on samples subjected to different treatments in water solutions (water and salt water) and at different number of load cycles (60000, 150000 and 300000). The tensile strengths of the specimens determined before and after exposure were considered a measure of the durability performance. Test results showed a reduction of tensile strength up to 30.2% for the specimens subjected to treatment in water solution and up to 10.8% for those subjected to fatigue treatments