Compressive behaviour of multi-cell GFRP pultruded square columns reinforced with lattice-webs

A novel multi-cell glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) pultruded square column reinforced with lattice-webs (MP-LSHc) was proposed. Twelve column specimens with various thicknesses of face sheets and lattice webs were tested to investigate the compressive behaviour and failure modes of MP-LSHcs. The experimental results revealed that all the specimens with lattice-web reinforcements failed due to the rupture of face sheets followed by the compressive damage of pultruded tubes. With the application of lattice-webs, the loading capacity of the specimens increased. The thickness of the lattice-webs strongly affected the pseudo-ductile behaviour of the column specimens. Improvements in interfacial bonding performance were also found in specimens by increasing the thickness of face sheets. By modelling the specimens as individual plates, the compressive failure and buckling behaviour of laminates were analysed to predict the peak loads of the specimens. A good correlation was found between the analysed results and the experimental observations.