An investigation of fatigue behavior and residual strength model of steel-GFRP composite bar

Steel-fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite bar (SFCB) combines the advantages of corrosion resistance of FRP and good ductility of steel, and is a promising reinforcement material to improve the service life of marine structures. However, the fatigue behavior of SFCB is complex and has not been explored. Therefore, in this study, fatigue tests were conducted at different stress levels (0.32, 0.36, and 0.41 of quasi-static tensile strength with a fixed stress ratio of 0.1) and tensile tests were performed after fatigue pre-damage for a certain number of cycles (25%, 50%, and 75% of the fatigue life) to investigate the fatigue behavior of SFCB. The results show that fatigue failure is caused by steel core fracture, and the FRP layer can improve the fatigue life. Compared with the change of residual strength, the stiffness degradation of SFCB during fatigue loading was not significant. Finally, a residual strength prediction model containing known parameters of the S-N curve is also proposed, which can well predict the residual strength decay of SFCB after fatigue damage. In conclusion, these findings and the proposed residual strength prediction model contribute to the understanding and design of SFCBs.