Non-Linear Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced
Polymer Composite Pile
Synopsis report submitted in partial requirement of
M.E Structural Engineering
Submitted by
Mohammad Aamir
21MCE1427
Batch: 2021-2023
Department of Civil Engineering
Chandigarh University Gharuan, Mohali
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are highly grateful to the Dr. Harjot Singh, Associate Director,
Chandigarh University, Mohali, for providing this opportunity to carry out the
Project “Non-Linear Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite Pile”.
The constant guidance and encouragement received from Prof. (Dr.) Seema, Head
of Department & Dr. Kanwarpreet Singh, Academic Co-ordinator, Department of
Civil Engineering, has been of great help in carrying out the project work and is
acknowledged with reverential thanks.
The authors would like to express a deep sense of gratitude and thanks profusely to
Dr. Plaban Deb without the wise counsel and able guidance, it would have been
impossible to complete the report in this manner.
The authors express gratitude to other faculty members of Civil Department,
Chandigarh University, Mohali for their intellectual support throughout the course
of this work.
Name of Students
Mohammad Aamir
I have gone through the content of the synopsis submitted by
_____________________________ and found it in order and fit to carry on the
proposed studies.
Signature of the guide with Date
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1. INTRODUCTION
Structures may often undergo severe load conditions that result in accidental damage during their
service time, and replacing these structures is very expensive. Thus, structures are desired to
maintain critical loading subject to difficult environment conditions, static and short-term dynamic
stresses. Therefore, strengthening, repairing and retrofitting is frequently required for structures
for meeting the requirements of sufficient strength and extending the service life. Concrete
structures are conventionally reinforced with steel bars and stirrups. Deterioration of RC structures
due to corrosion of reinforcing steel bars is a major concern. The corrosion problem of steel bar is
the greatest factor in limiting the life expectancy of RC structures. Many environmental conditions
accelerate the corrosion process of steel bar; thereby resulting in steady deterioration that decreases
the life expectancy of these structures.
Deep foundation industry has historically involved the use of traditional materials such as concrete,
steel and timber as pile foundations. However, there are problems associated with the use of these
materials especially when installed in corrosive and marine environments. Examples of
deteriorated traditional piles in these harsh environments are shown in Fig 1. The deterioration of
concrete, steel and timber reduces their structural capacities, which may ultimately result in
damage or failure of the structure. Moreover, the maintenance and repair of deteriorated piles made
from these materials are generally expensive. Aside from the cost, there is a growing concern in
the environmental and health impact of using treated timber and steel painted with solvent or
heavy-metals coatings. These problems coupled on the use of traditional piles led researchers
around the world to look for viable alternative materials that are suitable in harsh environments.
(a) (b) (c)
Fig 1. Common problems of traditional piles installed in corrosive and marine environments, (a)
Degradation of concrete pile showing cored steel reinforced; (b) Corrosion of steel piles and (c)
Deterioration of timber (after Guades et al., 2012)
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A relatively new trend in deep foundations is the use of composite piles due to their inherent
advantages over traditional piles. Composite piles refer to alternative pile foundations composed
of fibre-reinforced polymers (FRPs), recycled plastics or hybrid materials that are placed into the
ground to support axial and/or lateral load. Their advantages include light weight, high specific
strength, high durability, corrosion resistance, chemical and environmental resistance, and low
maintenance cost.
1.1 Fibre reinforced polymer
Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) refers to composite materials consisting of two phases; namely,
the reinforcing phase and the matrix phase. The reinforcing phase is usually continuous fibre
reinforcement, which is the load-carrying element of FRP and controls its stiffness and strength.
The matrix phase in general provides protection and support for sensitive fibres as well as local
stress transfer from one fibre to another. The matrix may have the form of polyester, vinyl ester,
epoxy, phenolic, thermoplastic, etc. The reinforcement fibres are combined with the resin matrix
material in a variety of forms to create the laminate. The reinforcement fibres can be made of
carbon, glass, aramid, etc. Other terminology for composites includes fibre reinforced polymer
(FRP), glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP), carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), Aramid
fibre reinforced polymer (AFRP), and others. The mechanical properties of FRP composites
depend on several factors including the types of fibre and resin matrix, fibre orientation and volume
of fibres. That is, mechanical properties such as strength are direction dependent and will differ in
the fibre direction and the transverse direction.
1.2 Types of Fibre Reinforcements
A reinforcement fibre is a material made into a long filament. Reinforcement fibres have some
superiority over other materials because of their high stiffness, strength and light weight. Fibres
do not necessarily need to be used in a continuous form. They can be used in a continuous or
discontinuous form in the composite as desired. When used as continuous reinforcement, they have
to be aligned in the matrix at the required percentage and direction. The main functions of fibres
are to carry the load and provide stiffness, strength, thermal stability and other structural properties
to the FRP. To perform these functions, the fibres in FRP composite must have high modulus of
elasticity, high ultimate strength, low variation of strength among fibres, high stability of their
strength during handling and high uniformity of diameter and surface dimension among fibres.
The type of fibres used as the reinforcement is the basis for classification of FRP composites.
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There are three types of fibres dominating the civil engineering industry: carbon, glass and aramid
fibres.
1.2.1 Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP)
Carbon or “graphite” fibres are a type of high-performance fibre available for civil engineering
application. This type of fibre is fabricated by controlled pyrolysis and crystallization of organic
precursors at temperatures above 2000°C. In this process, carbon crystallites are produced and
orientated along the fibre length. Carbon fibres are the most expensive, costing approximately 5
to 7 times the cost of glass fibres. They are lightweight and have a much higher stiffness and
strength durability as compared with the other commonly used fibre types. They also have a very
high resistance to dynamic loading, excellent fatigue and creep resistance, and low thermal
expansion.
1.2.2 Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)
Glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) is the most commonly used fibre type for composite
reinforcement. GFRP’s are a processed form of glass, which is composed of a number of oxides
(mostly silica oxide), together with other raw materials (such as limestone, fluorspar, boric acid,
clay). They are manufactured by drawing those melted oxides into filaments ranging from 3 µm
to 24 µm. In fact, almost 90% of the fibres used in the low-cost composite industry are made of
glass.
1.2.3 Aramid Fibre Reinforced Polymer (AFRP)
Aramid or aromatic polyamide fibre (AFRP) is one of the two high-performance fibres used in
civil engineering application. AFRP’s are synthetic organic fibres that offer higher strength and
stiffness than glass fibres. The aramid fibres provide good damping properties resulting in higher
resistance to abrasion and shock. They also havse excellent fatigue and creep resistance, chemical
resistance, and are very ductile. However, aramid fibres are not water resistance which can result
in water absorption and growth in humid environments of up to 3% to 7%. They can also have
some difficulty achieving strong bonds to the resin.
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1.3 Needs for FRP Composite piles
The application of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) in soil foundation has been mostly focused on
FRP-wrapped piles.
(a) Reducing construction costs since no external moulds are needed for pile installation, and
(b)Reducing long- term maintenance costs due to the fact that FRP laminate provides protection
for concrete against corrosive materials in the surrounding soil.
Fig 2. Different FRP-wrapped piles
(https://jourcc.com/public/journals/1/article_43_cover_en_US.jpg)
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Sheikh (2001) Sheikh doing an experiment work of wall-slab, beam and column specimens is
done in which the result is compared with traditional concrete and the result shows mechanical
properties of fiber reinforced polymer concrete observed higher compared to ordinary cement
concrete. Comparing plain polymer concrete to ordinary concrete, compressive strength is 85%
higher. When Polymer concrete is reinforced, increase higher than 100% is observed and the
crackings which are developed in all the three specimens shows a cracking similar to that observed
in the field.
Reis (2005) Reis doing an experiment work is which three specimen commercial concretes, CFRP
and GFRP is taken. Compressive tests were performed at room temperature. The mechanical
properties of fiber reinforced polymer concrete are observed higher compared to ordinary cement
concrete. Comparing plain polymer concrete to ordinary concrete, compressive strength is 85%
higher. When Polymer concrete is reinforced, increase higher than 100% is observed and Epoxy
Polymer concrete in both forms [with and without fiber reinforcement] proved to be an excellent
alternative to concretes available in the market. When compared to commercial concretes, plain
epoxy concrete exhibits higher compressive strength values ranging from 17.3 to 33.7%. Similarly,
compressive strength values of glass fiber reinforced composite are higher in the range of 27.5 to
45.4%, while carbon fiber reinforced epoxy polymer concretes showed even more higher values
ranging between 36.1 to 55.1%. There is a slight difference between the test results, due to random
distribution of fibers.
Reddy et al. (2008) Reddy doing a both experimental and modelling work. Eight RC pile
specimens were cast with same reinforcement details to study the behavior under different loading
conditions. Four specimens were used as control and remaining four were retrofitted with GFRP
fabric. The effect of retrofitting on RC pile specimens was studied. The load deflection and load
strain plots obtained from numerical study is compared with the experimental plots. The crack
patterns in the pile specimens are also presented. In software a finite element analysis using
ANSYS was implemented and it was found that the finite element analysis results were close to
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the test results. The failure mechanism of a reinforced concrete pile is modeled quite well using
ANSYS, and the failure loads predicted are very close to the failure loads measured during
experimental testing.
Guades et al. (2010) Guades presents reviewed record and information related to composite piles.
Significance is given to history, material types and properties, structural behaviour, geotechnical
performance, and durability of composite piles. Result of the literature review shows that there is
only a limited study on the geotechnical performance of the composite piles. There is a necessity
for more field tests to carefully assess and verify the geotechnical performance of the composite
piles to be used in developing reliable design procedures. To date, long-term durability research
for composite piles is inadequate, and therefore needs significant studies to fully understand its
behaviour under different degrading factors.
Shamsuddoha et al. (2013) Shamsuddoha study a review paper in which authors has replaced a
traditional material with alternate material because traditional steel repairs are heavyweight, time
consuming and incorporate tedious welding works which restrain their use in pipelines located
underground and underwater. As an alternative, fibre-reinforced composite has proven to be an
effective repair solution for corroded steel pipelines due to using a lightweight, high-strength, fast
and easy to handle, and cost-effective material system.
El-Nemr et al. (2016) El-Nemr doing a numerical modeling of FRP pile behavior in sandy soil
using finite element modeling under static loading condition by using a software Abaqus. In which
Two different FRP composites piles; carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymer tubes (CFRP and
GFRP) were used. Author worked on two parameters stiffness and slenderness ratios and result
shows a CFRP tubes have a higher capacity due to its stiffness. Also, increasing the slenderness
ratio decreases the pile displacement response.
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Ni et al. (2016) Numerical investigation is done by Ni of the uplift performance of prestressed
fiber-reinforced polymer floating piles is done in this by using a Abaqus software in which
different plots are drawn between uplift force versus pile vertical displacement curves of normal
concrete and FRP based concrete. The prestressed CFRP floating pile experienced a smaller pile
displacement compared to the other piles. Therefore, prestressing a floating pile using CFRP rebar
could be safer in design. In this paper Ni summarized that the use of a larger FRP rebar diameter
mobilized a more uniformly distributed bond stress along the embedment length as well as a
smaller peak value, which improved the pullout performance of FRP rebar embedded in concrete.
The CFRP material was found to provide better pullout resistance compared to the AFRP and
GFRP rebars, since the distribution of the mobilized bond stress was more uniform with a smaller
peak value. In all types of FRP materials CFRP rebar was a better alternative compared to other
materials for prestressed floating piles due to higher elastic modulus of the material.
Al –Zayadi (2017) Al –Zayadi doing a modeling of FRP composite pile under axial compression
load using finite element method. Author studying the different parameter’s effects of FRP tube
thickness, steel tube thickness, Hollowness ratio and stiffness of concrete. The results were
presented in terms of axial load-axial strain curves. It has been found that the axial strength ratio
increased as the stiffness of concrete, steel, and FRP increased while it decreased with the increase
of hollowness ratio.
Zhang and Hadi (2019) Authors prepare a different composite material by using a geogrid-
confined pervious geopolymer concrete (GPGCPs) with and without FRP-PVC-confined concrete
core (FPCC) in which different relationship of axial stress-axial strain and behavior are studied.
Result shows that the FPCC can significantly improve the mechanical behavior of the GPGCPs.
In comparison with GPGCPs without FPCC, the maximum axial loads of GPGCPs with FPCC
were higher, and the ductility was improved significantly.
Abbood et al (2020). Abbood study the various aspects regarding the employment of FRP
composites as strengthening materials in the construction industry. It can be concluded that E-
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GFRP is considered the cheapest composite among FRP materials and is hence the largely
consumed. BFRP is higher costing owing to the lacking in manufacturing, unlike the E-GFRP.
AFRP is not widely used due to its low compressive strength despite its high cost. CFRP has the
superior strength and exhibits high resistance to fatigue and creep failures among FRP composites
which lead to the high cost of CFRP.
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3. RESEARCH GAP
a) Effect of different FRPs in pile: Most of the researchers have focused on GFRP
laminated composite pile. There is very limited research in the application of CFRP
and BFRP laminated composite pile.
b) Effect of different thickness and wrapping pattern of FRPs in pile: Thickness
and wrapping pattern of FRPs in pile plays an important role for increasing the
lateral load carrying capacity of pile. However, the effect of different thickness and
wrapping pattern of FRPs in pile is very scare.
c) Lateral load carrying capacity of FRP composite pile: FRP composite piles are
generally used in marine structures. Therefore, lateral load carrying capacity is an
important factor. However, very less research is there in the field of lateral load
carrying capacity of FRP composite pile.
d) Non-linear behaviour of FRP composite pile: The research on the field of non-
linear finite element modelling of FRP composite pile in soil is very scare.
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4. PROBLEM STATEMENT
Fig 3. Schematic profile of bending moment generated in pile (after Deb and Pal, 2021)
Piles are usually made of different traditional materials such as timber, steel or concrete.
Traditional piles have been used extensively for several decades. Problems coupled with use of
these materials in harsh or organic soil and marine environments include deterioration of timber,
corrosion of steel, degradation and marine borer attack of concrete. However, these traditional
materials have limited-service life and high maintenance costs when used in harsh environments.
In piles lateral forces plays an important role when it comes there is a formation of bending
moment in piles and plastic hinge is formed. But in our study, we use FRP materials to see the
behaviour of piles under lateral forces after plastic hinge is formed.
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5. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the present study are: -
a) To find a compressive strength, tensile strength and flexure strength of the concrete
with FRP and without FRP.
b) To assess the behaviour of FRP composite pile.
c) To study non-linear analysis of FRP composite pile in soil by using finite element
modelling.
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6. METHODOLOGY
Fig 4. Flow chart of methodology.
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7. TIME CHART
Fig 5. Time chart for working progress.
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