FATIGUE PERFOMANCE OF INJECTED STEEL REINFORCED RESIN CONNECTORS IN GFRP SANDWICH WEB CORE PANELS

While Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) decks offer a competitive solution for bridge construction and renovation, their application is constrained by the absence of feasible, fatigue resistant connection technologies. Current methods, including bolted, bonded, and cementitious grout based connections, exhibit various limitations. The emerging injected Steel Reinforced Resin (iSRR) connector technology promises enhanced performance. However, its behaviour within a realistic bridge deck scenario, particularly under the influence of web direction, remains under-explored. This paper scrutinises these connectors in a sandwich web core panel setup, subjected to fully reversed loading cycles and post-fatigue static tests, with the aid of Finite Element modelling.