Advanced Composite Structures

Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) such as carbon, aramid and glass FRPs are being increasingly used in construction. These advanced composites can be used in combination with traditional construction materials, or to form structures in their own right. Of particular importance with FRP materials are the methods of forming joints.

Adhesively Bonded Joints

The structural use of FRPs usually involves adhesive joints. These might be between two pieces of FRP (eg: in an all-FRP bridge deck), or where the FRP is bonded to another material (eg: FRP strengthening of a metallic beam or FRP reinforcement inside concrete). These bonded connections require proper design, both mechanically and to ensure their durability.

Externally Bonded FRP Strengthening

Metallic, concrete and masonry structures can be strengthened by bonding FRP to their external surfaces. FRP can be used to strengthen a wide variety of structural elements (eg: bridge columns and decks and floor slabs). FRP is particularly beneficial where time or space constraints govern a strengthening scheme.

Concrete Reinforced using FRP

FRP materials can be used to reinforce structural concrete. They are most likely to be used for their corrosion restance (eg: marine environments) or near electromagnetically sensitive equipment. However, replacing ductile steel rebar with brittle FRP reinforcement requires traditional concrete design techniques to be revised.

Shear in Concrete with Brittle Reinforcement

Stability of Long Precast Concrete Beams