GFRP reinforced infrastructure

Project description

Typical steel reinforced concrete is the standard practise for concrete infrastructure, however this common construction method contains one key weakness. Steel reinforced concrete can suffer from corrosion (sometimes called concrete cancer) especially in aggressive environments such as coastal regions. Substituting steel with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) allows for corrosion-free concrete construction with substantially higher durability properties. In marine environments, a switch from steel to GFRP reinforcement has seen infrastructure life-spans increase from 5-10 years to an expected 200+ years. GFRP has very different material properties to steel, so research into the design and testing GFRP reinforced infrastructure is required.

Co-supervisors

Ali Gholampour will be closely involved with this research project.

Assumed knowledge

A strong background in Structural Engineering is required.

Note: You need to register interest in projects from different supervisors (not a number of projects with the one supervisor).
You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.