Relaxation is a key factor that controls the application of prestressing fiber-reinforced polymer tendons. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the relaxation behavior of newly developed basalt fiber-reinforced polymer tendons through an approach considering anchorage slippage. A series of relaxation tests on basalt fiber-reinforced polymer tendons subjected to three levels of initial stresses (0.4 fu, 0.5 fu, and 0.6 fu, where fu = ultimate strength) were conducted using a specially designed test setup that eliminates the impact of slippage at the anchor zone. An additional group of tests was conducted to validate the enhancement effect of pretension on the relaxation behavior. The relaxation rates at one million hours were predicted based on experimental fitting. Finally, the relaxation rates at 1000 h were predicted using the correlation between the relaxation and creep and were validated with the experimental relaxation rates. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed setup in measuring the relaxation loss of specimens and reveal that the relaxation rates of untreated basalt fiber-reinforced polymer tendons at 1000 h are 4.2%, 5.3%, and 6.4% at 0.4 fu, 0.5 fu, and 0.6 fu, respectively. Pretension treatment performs effective in relaxation loss controlling. BFRP tendons are recommended to be applied at an initial stress of 0.5 fu after pretension treatment, with one-million-hour relaxation rate equal to 6.7%. Furthermore, the relaxation rate at 1000 h can be predicted accurately based on the creep behavior. The conclusions of this study can provide guidance for the prestressing applications of basalt fiber-reinforced polymer tendons.
Free vibration of basalt fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminated variable thickness plates with intermediate elastic support using finite strip transition matrix (FSTM) method
