TY - JOUR TI - Flexural behavior of built-up i-beams made from hybrid-fiber SIFCON plates DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T30K2C1Q PY - 2017 AB - Flexural members such as beams are typically made from wood, concrete, prestressed concrete, steel, and FRP. Built-up I-beams made from thin fiber reinforced plates are another group of beams that can provide an alternative to steel and reinforced concrete beams for various uses. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the potential of using built-up I-beams made of thin SIFCON plates in structural applications such as beams, lintels, and others. Several built-up I-beams were prepared and tested in flexure. The thin SIFCON plates were made with straight fibers (brass coated microfibers), hooked fibers, and a hybrid using both fibers. The plates were connected using organic epoxy resin with and without thin aluminum angles and with basalt fabrics using an inorganic epoxy. The built-up I-beams were tested in flexure to evaluate bending strength and their failure modes such flange yielding, lateral torsional buckling, and web shear failure. The builtup I-beams were also strengthened using in tension using basalt fabrics to improve their tensile strength. The results showed that the use of basalt fabrics increases the flexural capacity of the built-up beams and can be used for retrofitting of these beams. The results of this study showed that these beams can be fabricated and can be used as structural members subjected to bending. The study also provided test data and information on the feasibility of these types of beams, methods of connecting plate components, their performance in flexure and their failure modes. KW - Civil and Environmental Engineering KW - Flexure LA - eng ER -