Experimental and analytical investigation of two- and six-plate bonded splice joints on serviceability limit deformations of pultruded GFRP beams

New shear-deformable beam equations were used to predict the spliced beam deformations. For major-axis flexure, deflections were predicted reasonably accurately for both joint layouts when the beam's experimentally determined longitudinal elastic modulus was used. Major and minor-axis support rotations were predicted with maximum errors of 15% and 25% respectively. Generally, splice joint rotational stiffnesses were poorly predicted.