Structural design with FRP composites

Since the first FRP for the light airframe structures were conceived, developed and designed by the Wright-Patterson Air Force, Structures and Materials Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio in 1943, the FRP composites have been used at an accelerated pace by the defense, aerospace, aircraft, and sporting goods industries. But their use in the main stream civil engineering structures had been sparse. Application of composites in civil engineering structures has been limited to rehabilitation/retrofit of a few old buildings and bridges, and a few new highway bridges built as research and demonstration projects. The very slow progress in application of composites for civil engineering structures can be attributed to several reasons including lack of available textbooks, design manuals, and design codes, etc., and also on account of unfamiliarity with the material of the vast number of civil engineers. To improve this situation, it is imperative that effective steps be taken to disseminate knowledge of composites in the engineering community. This goal can be achieved through teaching composites design and application in engineering schools, in the form of both lecture and laboratory work, beginning at the undergraduate level, similar to other design courses. In this paper, several suggestions are made regarding composites education program in engineering schools.