LAUSR

Abstract Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) tendons are well known for their day-by-day increasing applications in infrastructural engineering. Advantages like high corrosion resistance, low-cost and environment-friendly features make BFRP tendons one of the best alternatives for metal-based (for example steel) reinforcement. Civil engineering components are always under high risk of earthquake, explosion or any impact/collision situation. Therefore, it becomes necessary to analyze the mechanical properties of BFRP tendons in every aspect of real-life situations. This paper investigates the mechanical properties of BFRP tendons through pullout (at 0.05 mm/s), quasi-static (at 0.05 mm/s) and dynamic (at 1, 3, 5, 10, 5 m/s) tests. The effects of varying loading velocities (or strain-rates) over damage process are characterized by digital image correlation (DIC) method. The micrographs by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) identified the modes of fracture occurred during the experimental tests. The discreteness of failure strength at various strain-rates is analyzed by ‘Weibull distribution: a statistical method’. The experimental investigation proved that the BFRP tendons are highly influenced by strain-rate under tensile loading. As compared to quasi-static tests, the tensile strength is increased by 98% at the strain-rate of 28.98 s−1. It is also estimated that Weibull distribution is one of the best available statistical tools for estimating randomness in BFRP tendons.