Fibre-Reinforced Timber for Novel Hybrid Folded Thin-Walled Structures (2016-2019)
Abstract
Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have gained wide acceptance within the civil engineering community. All-FRP systems typically utilise thin-walled profiles based on steel sections, but existing manufacturing technologies have an inability to optimise material usage. Hybrid systems combine FRP with traditional materials for optimum structural performance and so are often more economical than all-FRP systems. This project aims to develop an effective way to analyse, manufacture, and design FRP-based hybrid thin-walled structural members and optimise performance against buckling failure modes. The technology developed in this project is highly novel and of substantial significance to the development of advanced FRP structural systems.
