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The Potential of Composite Materials in Civil Engineering applications

The Potential of Composite Materials in Civil Engineering applications. John Summerscales University of Plymouth. Civil engineering. ICE definition includes … about creating , improving and protecting the environment in which we live.

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The Potential of Composite Materials in Civil Engineering applications

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  1. The Potential of Composite Materials inCivil Engineering applications John Summerscales University of Plymouth

  2. Civil engineering • ICE definition includes … • about creating, improving and protecting the environment in which we live. • facilities for day-to-day life and for transport and industry to go about its work. • Civil engineers design and build bridges, roads, railways and tunnels. They also design and build tall buildings and large structures …

  3. Outline of talk • Buildings, highways, water supply and drainage, coastal protection etc • Numerical modelling (FEA/CFD) and optimal design (e.g. genetic algorithms) • Standards • Quality, Environmental, Safety and Health (QuEnSH) systems • Challenges

  4. Key characteristics of composites • low density • high specific modulus/strength • creep and fatigue resistance* • durability in corrosive environments* • ballistic resistance * Lin Liao et al, Journal of Advanced Materials, 1998, 30(4), 3-40. * G Pritchard, Reinforced Plastics Durability, Woodhead, 1999.

  5. New materials • fibres: • basalt • reclaimed “milled” short carbon fibres • natural fibres • matrix: • bio-based resin systems • nano-additives • embedded sensors and biomimetics

  6. Re-bar • potential use for pultruded sections • pulsed microwave curing giving alternating • cured solid section • uncured flexible sections

  7. Cladding • Mondial House • one half of panels removed after 33 years service • one half of panels cleaned and polished. • American Express, Brighton c.1977. • structural cladding supporting glazing. • functional formwork? Images: Reinforced Plastics, May 2007, 51(5), 26-29+31-33. Reinforced Plastics, September 2006, 50(8), 22-32.

  8. Housing Experience of (a) prefabricated housing + (b) naval vessels = (c) floating, or submerged, residences to • alleviate pressure on fertile land • protect against flooding (Bangladesh/New Orleans) Images: FRP bungalow built by Charles Roberts (WY), circa 1963 (photo by JS, 2004). HMS Wilton FRP hull built by Vosper Thornycroft circa 1970.

  9. Housing 10 billion people • Build • high … multi-storey building • energy required to lift components • dry … into the desert regions • bonded composites require no water • wet … onto or under the sea • (as on earlier slide)

  10. Floating infrastructures • VISIONS Network of Excellence • Visionary Concepts for Ships & Floating Structures • European FP6 priority 1.6.2 sustainable transport • http://www.maritime-visions.net • free-ports • renewable energy • NIMBY: not in my back yard • offshore gambling casinos Image from: WEGEMT Academic Contest Guidelines 2009.doc

  11. Third world.. and .. disaster relief • move the village to the water or pipe the water to the village ? • lightweight water tankers • more water, less vehicle • prefabricated shelters

  12. (p)rehabilitation • Earthquake containment • over-wrapped bridge supports • why not adopt “functional formwork”rather than do this retrospectively? • Pipework • in-situ-form pipe lining • Historic structures • Ightham Mote (National Trust)

  13. Bridges • Several modest examples in Europe • Some strengthening/rehab in USA • proposed Straits of Gibraltar Bridge as a flagship project U Meier, Proposal for a carbon fibre reinforced composite bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar at its narrowest site, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Management and Engineering Manufacture, 1987, 201(B2), 73-78

  14. Transport Need for private cars or effective public transport ?: • dedicated elevated/tunnelled routes • ensuring no delays • regular and reliable service • on-demand provision?

  15. High speed rail-links • Shanghai airport to centre • 30 km in 7min 20s (advertised as 8min) • maximum normal speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) • … but mostly ac-/de-celerating • flight check-in is tedious, so • given concern over aircraft emissionsthe challenge is to convert domestic air(intra-continental) to high speed rail.

  16. Coastal defences • University of Liverpool Department of Mathematical Science • metamaterial “invisibility cloak”could reduce the risk of large water waves overtopping coastal defences • need to replicate in a ‘real’ life situationto protect land from natural disasters/tsunamis, and defend structures such as oil rigs in the ocean. M Farhat, S Enoch, S Guenneau and AB Movchan Broadband Cylindrical Acoustic Cloak for Linear Surface Waves in a Fluid. Physical Review Letters, 26 September 2008, 101, 134501:1-4.

  17. Renewable energy • Land • hydroelectric • wind • geothermal • Sea • waves • tidal barrage and tidal stream • ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)

  18. Numerical modelling and optimal design • Finite Element Analysis • laminate stacking sequence • material/structural anisotropy • Computational Fluid Dynamics • Genetic Algorithms • but where is the underlying database?

  19. Standards • Positive: • Sims (NPL) drove aerospace CRAG to ISO standards • Negative: • lack of standards for thick composites • difficulty of addressing multiple laminateconfigurations/stacking sequences • need a champion for this sector

  20. Joints and connections • adhesives • pultrusions with connectors: • Composolite® • Startlink

  21. Quality, Environmental, Safety and Health (QuEnSH) systems • Quality > ISO 9000 series • Environment > ISO 14000 series • Safety and Health > OHSAS 18000 series • QuEnSH aims to integrate these systems

  22. Quality, Environmental, Safety and Health (QuEnSH) systems • Off-site preparation of modular systems • Lower embodied energy • More comprehensive (quantitative) Life Cycle Assessment • Embedded systems for structural health monitoring

  23. Cost • Composites inherently expensive? • Move fabrication to low-wage economy • Consider system costs, e.g. • Autovia del Cantabricofirst carbon-fibre composite bridge in Spain • easy and quick to assemble • completed in 10 hours using a 50 tonne crane (equivalent structure in concrete > 400 tonne crane)

  24. Entering the ecological age Peter Head’s Brunel International Lecture series for the Institution of Civil Engineers “Entering the ecological age: the engineer's role” http://www.ice.org.uk/brunel heavy focus on biomimetics

  25. Environment • Sustainability Assessment to • Overcome Barriers to Renewable Construction Materials • NetComposites and BRE lead LINK collaborative research project funded through the renewable materials programme. • Focus on assessing the environmental credentials of naturally derived construction materials. • Raw material supply – including crop production and land-use • Energy requirements for primary and secondary processing • Durability of these naturally derived materials compared to conventional alternatives • End of life issues including recovery/re-use, recycling, composting and disposal.

  26. Robert Constanza et al • The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital[Nature, May 1997]. • The biosphere provides us with services worth some US$33 trillion per year- nearly double the world’s GDP!

  27. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment • Easy to express in monetary terms: • Agriculture and livestock, hunting, fishing, water supply, genetic resources, various chemicals • More complex to evaluate (regulatory services): • Carbon sequestration, atmospheric regulation, air quality, water supply, erosion, nutrient supply, regulation of pests and diseases • Difficult to evaluate (cultural services): • Aesthetic, artistic, educational, spiritual/religious, recreation and leisure. • http://www.millenniumassessment.org (2000)

  28. QuantitativeLife Cycle Assessment (QLCA) • acidification • climate (global warming) • eutrophication • ozone • resource depletion • smog • toxicity ISO14040 series

  29. Yves Sciama: • … in 2007 global warming managed to impose itself as a world-wide issue - whereas biodiversity is still struggling to rise above the status of a marginal issue. [research*EU 56 dated June 2008].

  30. A world without bees • strange case of vanishing western honeybee • colony collapse disorder • varroa mites and/or agrochemicals • dangerously out of kilter with nature? • the world can't survive without it: • “no more pollination, no more plants, no more man”. • May Berenbaum: • “managed honey bees will cease to exist by 2035” Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum, A World Without Bees Guardian Newspapers, June 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0852650929. MR Berenbaum, Colony Collapse Disorder and Pollinator Decline, US House of Representatives Committee, 29 March 2007

  31. Algae • as the ocean warms,the area that can support growth of algae grows smaller … driven ever closer to poles, until algal growth ceases. Threshold for failure of the algaewhich actively remove CO2 from the airis ~ 500 parts per million (ppm)which we will reach ... in about forty years. James Lovelock, The Revenge of Gaia Allen Lane, London, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0-713-99914-3

  32. Social factors • Skilled industry personnel • accredited training • higher salaries in aerospace/Formula 1? • Educate the users • Plymouth Civil Engineering BEng studentstake same 20 credit composites course asBEng Mechanical Engineering with Composites

  33. Key challenges • conservatism of civil engineering industry • price sensitivity • absence of comprehensive “materials” property database • absence of design codes • automated manufacture

  34. Acknowledgements • Toby Mottram, University of Warwick • Dave Easterbrook, University of Plymouth • Fethi Azizi, University of Plymouth

  35. download the PowerPoint fromwww.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/composites/cobrae.ppt  Thank you for your attention … any questions?

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