Bending energy absorption performance of composite fender piles with different winding angles

In recent years, there has been an increase in accidents involving vessels colliding with bridge piers. These ship–bridge collisions can result in tragic loss of life and severe damage to the bridge structure. To address this issue, a type of fender pile made of winding-formed glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) was proposed as a solution. In this article, three- and four-point bending tests were performed to compare and analyze the damage modes and load-carrying capacity of the fender piles at two different winding angles, namely 45° and 75°. Vertical impact test was simulated using ANSYS/LS-DYNA to verify finite element models. The results revealed variations in damage patterns and bending performance of GFRP piles under the two fiber winding angles. The simulation results suggest that GFRP fender piles can effectively increase the impact time of ship–bridge collisions and reduce the collision forces, thereby significantly improving the protection of bridge piers.