Mechanical Properties-Based Reliability Optimization Design of GFRP Culvert

Abstract

To improve the reliability of the glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) mortar culvert structure more effectively, their failure modes were estimated by combining the Tsai–Wu and Tang failure criteria. The reliability of GFRP mortar culverts was analyzed using the Monte Carlo method. According to the characteristics of structure of GFRP mortar pipe culvert, the adaptive adjustment weights were introduced to improve the whale optimization (WOA) algorithm. The improved WOA algorithm was used to optimize the structure design of the GFRP mortar pipe culvert with its reliability as the objective function under a certain weight. It was determined that the laminated structure produces different optimal lamination angles with different relative thicknesses of single layers. As the number of layers increases, the optimal angle of fibers increases significantly. The optimization based on three design variables gave better results than based on two design variables. It was determined the optimal characteristics to reach maximum reliability of structure of GFRP mortar pipe culvert.