Banca de DEFESA: Geovanna Maria Andrade de Oliveira

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : Geovanna Maria Andrade de Oliveira
DATE: 29/08/2023
TIME: 10:00
LOCAL: TEAMS
TITLE:

Shear behavior of curauá fiber reinforced polymer connectors

KEY WORDS:

natural fiber reinforced polymer; shear connector; sandwich panel; curauá fiber; castor oil polyurethane; mechanical behavior

PAGES: 107
BIG AREA: Engenharias
AREA: Engenharia Civil
SUBÁREA: Estruturas
SPECIALTY: Estruturas de Concreto
SUMMARY:

Sandwich panels are precast walls composed of two outer layers of concrete and an insulating core, interconnected by shear connectors. The shear connectors can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and are commonly made using steel. Recently, it has been observed that the use of steel in manufacturing the connectors can lead to unwanted thermal bridges. Since then, research has focused on improving and applying connectors to eliminate the thermal bridging issue caused by the use of metal connectors. One of the most explored solutions is the use of Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) as an alternative material to metal connectors. Another advancement in the field of materials used for manufacturing polymer composites that constitute the connector is the replacement of synthetic fibers with natural fibers. Natural fibers have become an alternative as they offer sufficiently high tensile strength and modulus of elasticity for certain engineering applications. One prominent natural fiber used in composite materials production is curauá fiber, which comes from a bromeliad plant native to the Amazon region. Recent studies show that the incorporation of 30% curauá fiber into the composite composition can increase its strength by approximately 60% compared to a pure epoxy sample. Given this, the objective of this work is to propose a curauá fiber-reinforced grid-type connector and determine its behavior when subjected to shear by conducting push-out tests. To achieve this, it was necessary to prepare the curauá fibers through an alkaline treatment based on sodium hydroxide. Tensile tests were performed on the matrices and composite materials to determine their properties and also aid in estimating the properties of the used fiber. The method used for composite production and for creating the grid-type connectors was the vacuum infusion system. Finally, concrete blocks representing sandwich panel walls were fabricated and serve as experimental models for the push-out test. The results showed that the use of curauá fiber as reinforcement material had a greater impact on the plant-based matrix, as it increased tensile strength, resulting in composites that performed similarly to synthetic matrix composites. It was also demonstrated that the application of the curauá fiber-reinforced grid connector in sandwich panels is feasible as long as a larger quantity of connectors is used to compensate for the panel's loading forces

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1550512 - RODRIGO DE MELO LAMEIRAS
Interno - 1847391 - MARCOS HONORATO DE OLIVEIRA
Externo à Instituição - PAULO ROBERTO LOPES LIMA - UEFS