Mechanical characterization of pultruded elements: Fiber orientation influence vs web-flange junction local problem. Experimental and numerical tests

In this regard, the present work experimentally investigates the local behavior of a commercial Pultruded I-shaped Glass FRP (PGFRP) element, in order to: 1) evaluate the mechanical properties of the material according to different fiber orientations, 2) check the validity of the Tsai Hill Criterion and 3) investigate the capacity of the web-flange (WF) junction, that is a recognized weak point, through a novel and simple experimental test.