EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON STEEL ANGLE BEAMS AND COLUMNS STRENGTHENED WITH CFRP PLATES

The results of a testing campaign are presented for rolled steel equal angle sections strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) plates, targeting the strengthening of existing steel lattice towers. Three-point bending and compression tests have been carried out in order to determine the mechanical properties of members, specifically the bending capacity to principal and geometric axis loading and the buckling strength in the absence or presence of loading eccentricity arising from the connection in one leg. The experimental data include actual material properties, geometrical imperfections, the recorded response to loading in terms of displacements, end-rotations, twist of section, strains in steel or CFRP material, and photos. Also, the experimental set-up, the instrumentation, as well as simple experimental results to indicate the strengthening effect and utility of them to further analyses are provided.