Abstract
This study investigated the structural behavior and field applicability of sandwich type GFRP arches with polymer mortar in core. As a result, in case of crack loading and failure loading, total strains at crown were the highest; the fracture strain at crown was 0.01690, which is 4.2 times greater than the fracture strain (0.004) of cement concrete. The 3 % deflection load was 17.42 kN, the flexural strength was $163.98{\times}10^{-3}GPa$, and the flexural elastic modulus was 11.884 GPa. From load-deflection relationship up to 3.5 % deflection, 3D analysis results and experimental values were observed to be almost identical. It was considered reasonable to set a deflection rate limit to be 3 % for structural safety purpose. The standard external flexural strength of semicircular arch used in this study was approximately 2.64 times higher than that of hume pipe (2 type standard) and tripled composite pipe. The external pressure strength at fracture was approximately 1.57 times higher than that of hume pipe. It was confirmed that the implementing semicircular arch had mechanically more advantage than the circular pipe. Optimum member thickness was 8~53 mm according to arch radius of 450~1,800 mm and cover depth of 2~10 m. It was found that the larger strength could be obtained even if the thickness of member was smaller than that of concrete structure. In field application study, figures and equations were derived for obtaining applicable cover depth and optimum member thickness according to loading conditions. These would be useful data for design and manufacture of sandwich type semicircular arch.