ABSTRACT
In FRP composite bridge systems, the pultruded sandwich deck is generally used to transfer loads transversely to the supporting longitudinal girders or beams. Local buckling, shearing, transverse cracking along the fibres, delamination of internal pultruded profiles, or debonding of joints connecting adjacent GFRP modules under concentrated wheel loads all can contribute to a reduction of overall stiffness (GangaRao et al., 1999, Keller et al., 2007, Berman and Brown, 2010). Such failure modes can be prevented by changing the GFRP fibre architecture within the modular sandwich structure to enhance the reinforcement in both longitudinal and transverse directions.
