Prioritized FRP Research Needs in Civil Infrastructure

The research community has made great progress identifying and quantifying the characteristics of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials used in infrastructure applications. A growing number of demonstration projects and commercial applications contribute to the knowledge base in this area. The use of FRP materials in infrastructure is still in its infancy, however, and a number of issues remain to be adequately addressed. In some cases, the dearth of understanding and/or design guidance represents a significant limitation to the broader implementation of FRP materials in infrastructure applications. To partially address these issues, a Workshop was convened in October 2004 the objective of which was to identify and prioritize research areas and issues which industry, practitioners and academia identify as requiring further attention in order to improve our understanding of the behavior of FRP materials and FRP structural and repair systems. The Workshop focused on the application of FRP materials in concrete and masonry structures. Since this time, significant interest has developed in the application of FRP for the repair and strengthening of steel structures. This paper reports the primary findings of the Workshop on Research in FRP Composites in Concrete Construction and extends these to some degree into the emerging area of FRP Composites in Steel Construction. In this work, the discussion of research needs should not be construed as representing an impediment to the broader adoption of FRP materials for infrastructure applications. Rather, this discussion of research needs acknowledges that, as with any emerging technology, limitations and gaps in knowledge exist. Considerable effort has been made to identify these gaps and, in some sense, to prioritize their importance with respect to the broader adoption of FRP materials. A clear, unified understanding of research needs is necessary for this emerging technology to become mature.