Although fiberglass reinforced polyester manholes and wetwalls have been proven by the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) and are currently being used in some parts of the world, there still exists a lack of investigation for testing manhole covers made with different inorganic fillers under static and dynamic behavior. The filler would not only improve the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite not otherwise achieved by the resin ingredients alone but also lower the overall manufacturing costs by decreasing the amount of fiber content without adversely affecting the composite’s mechanical properties. The main objective involved the development of fiberglass laminated manhole covers with different inorganic fillers and to study the static and dynamic behavior of the material by performing experimental and numerical analysis. The materials used for the composite laminated test specimens consisted of E-glass woven roving fabric, epoxy, and filler. Two types of inorganic fillers were used for this study, calcium carbonate and high-density adhesive fillers. The static/dynamic test results showed that the laminates made with fiberglass and filler experienced lower performance in tensile strength but higher improvement in flexural strength. The modal analysis results showed that laminates with less filler experienced higher modes within the specified frequency range. This was expected since the material property of filler increased the stiffness and damping behavior in the composite material.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CALPOLY/oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-1127 |
| Date | 01 June 2009 |
| Creators | Parra, John R |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@CalPoly |
| Source Sets | California Polytechnic State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Master's Theses |
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