Reliability of the short-term moduli of PFRP profiles

The estimate of shear and flexural properties of pultruded structural shapes is traditionally evaluated by means of three or four point bending tests, making use of Timoshenko’s beam model. The identification of these parameters may be highly sensitive to the test configuration and to the measurement errors. To analyze this drawback a new test configuration was compared with the traditional loading tests through an extensive experimental program concerning wide-flange commercial profiles. A parametric study was conducted by varying the span length, and, in the case of the four-point bending tests, the relative position of the applied loads. The influence of the load and deflection measurement errors was analyzed and proper uncertainty bands were provided for the computed rigidities.