Abstract
The aim of the present work is to investigate the effect of different stress levels on the creep and recovery behaviour of polymer-matrix composites. Four hours creep followed by two hours recovery tests were performed to woven GFRP specimens at five different stress levels corresponding to five different percentages of ultimate static strength. Since the behaviour was linear viscoelastic, a four element viscoelastic model was applied. In addition, the viscoelastic behaviour observed was correlated with the degree of damage generated due to creep and its variation with the applied stress levels. Keywords: creep, recovery, linear viscoelastic behaviour, four parameter model