Effects of low temperature on the fatigue behavior of winding GFRP composites

Glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites offer significant advantages, including high performance, light weight, excellent insulation, and corrosion resistance. It is an ideal material for transmission towers as a replacement for steel. Understanding the performance of GFRP composites in service environments is a key issue to promote the application. In this paper, the influence of low temperature on the static and fatigue properties of GFRP plates for composite transmission towers is investigated through tests conducted at room temperature (RT, 20°C) and low temperature (LT, −40°C). The results show that the elastic modulus, ultimate strength, and fatigue life of GFRP plates are substantially enhanced at LT. The effect of temperature on Poisson’s ratio is limited. The S - N - T model with reference to the Arrhenius model can accurately describe the relationship between stress level, fatigue life, and test temperature of GFRP plates. In addition, the relationship between the normalized fatigue stiffness and the normalized fatigue life of GFRP plates is described using a three-stage fatigue damage prediction model. The results show that the fatigue stiffness degradation trend predicted by the model aligns closely with the test results.