Over the past three decades, fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have emerged as a promising alternative to steel and concrete for both strengthening existing structures and constructing new ones, due mainly to their excellent corrosion resistance in marine and other aggressive environments. Around the world, FRP is now widely used as a mainstream material in the strengthening of structures to extend their service life. For new construction, the development and application of various FRP products have been explored, including FRP rebars, FRP filament-wound tubes and FRP cables, to replace their steel counterparts for enhanced durability and a longer service life. The extension of service life of structures through the use of FRP offers an effective means for substantial reductions in carbon emissions per service year, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future of infrastructure development.
In this presentation, I will first provide a review of the development of the FRP strengthening technology, covering both research and practical applications, to demonstrate that this is now a mainstream strengthening technology. I will then provide a critical overview of the structural use of FRP in new construction, with an emphasis on several promising FRP products that have the potential to replace their steel counterparts to enhance the durability of structures. An examination of the obstacles to the wider/faster adoption of FRP in new construction will next be offered, together with strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Finally, I will use FRP-concrete-steel double-skin tubular members, a new class of FRP-enabled hybrid structural members invented by the speaker, as an example to demonstrate their great potential and to illustrate the long journey from conception to practical implementation of new-material structures.