FeatureThe business case for composites in construction
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Promoting the use of FRP
The conference was chaired by Dr Sue Halliwell from NetComposites, who is also the Coordinator of the NGCC. She explained that the NGCC is a membership-based organisation promoting the use of fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) in construction. It holds several events each year, produces technical information, and has an extensive website containing a wealth of information on the use of composites in construction, together with links and contacts on how to obtain further details. Some information
Future issues
A keynote address was given by Professor Steve Denton from Parsons Brinckerhoff, a planning, engineering and construction management company. This highlighted several important issues that could easily be overlooked in assessing the business case for composites in construction, but which will be of increasing importance in the future. These include issues such as social and environmental impact, in addition to the more obvious ones of financial viability.
Denton explained how the use of FRP
FRP cladding
In a joint presentation, Edwin Stokes from Arup and David Kendall of Optima Projects discussed the development of the FRP façade cladding system for a futuristic building forming a mobile arts pavilion as shown in Figure 1.
Stokes explained that the building was created to house a travelling art exhibition sponsored by Chanel, which would tour 13 international cities. The futuristic form of the building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, with overall engineering by Arup and FRP engineering
Bridge construction
Christian Scholze from Fiberline Composites gave an introduction to the pultrusion process and the pultruded profiles provided by Fiberline. He presented an interesting graph (Figure 7) showing the energy consumed in producing various materials, demonstrating the potential environmental benefit of FRP compared to other construction materials. Fiberline recommends painting pultrusions used in external applications to provide additional environmental protection and a 30-year life to repainting is
The environmental case for FRP
Dr Sue Halliwell from NetComposites presented the environmental case for FRPs in construction, which is becoming increasingly important in the materials selection process. She explained how both legislation and asset owners are demanding improved environmental performance and longer service life with reduced maintenance.
In the UK building sector change is driven by the Building Regulations, most notably Part F – Ventilation, and Part L – Conservation of Fuel & Power. There is a target to reduce
Cost-effective housing
Mark Singleton presented details of the Startlink Construction System, which is designed to produce affordable housing. He highlighted the following key advantages of pultrusions:
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resistant to corrosion and attack by insects or fungal growth;
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stable and inert;
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can be fire resistant;
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stronger than steel but only 25% of the weight;
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low thermal transmission; and
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can be delivered to site flat-packed and finished, avoiding all site waste.
Singleton explained that a complete house could be
FRP bridge decks
Jon Shave of Parsons Brinckerhoff presented the business case for using FRP bridge decks. He explained that the UK's infrastructure is mainly mature in its development and that the current focus is on improvement and enhancement. This brings special challenges as much of the work is undertaken on, or adjacent to, existing roads and railways that are already in use. Disruption for users is therefore a key consideration in selecting new methods of construction.
The drivers for the use of FRP are
Concrete
Dr Chris Burgoyne from the University of Cambridge gave the final presentation of the day and explained that he started investigating the use of FRP to reinforce and pre-stress concrete structures 26 years ago and now questioned why this application had not really expanded. He showed that in real terms the costs of reinforcing fibres such as glass, carbon and aramid have actually increased rather than reduced, despite significant growth in the production of such materials, mainly for the
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Network Group for Composites in Construction (NGCC); www.ngcc.co.uk