The majority of timber bridges in Canada requires flexural and/or shear strengthening to increase their load-carrying capacity in response to the demand to increase the allowable gross vehicle weight. This paper presents an innovative approach for the use of fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) to strengthen timber bridges. The advantages of this strengthening system are inevitable: fibre reinforced...

The production process of fibre reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete results in a preferential orientation of the fibres. The fibre orientation largely influences the strength and the deformation behaviour of this building material, therefore information on the fibre orientation is highly desirable. Computed tomography measurements allow for the non destructive investigation of the material. ...

X-ray computed tomography (XCT) provides a volumetric map of a specimen in three dimensions, generated from a set of radiographs. Due to the speed and quality of measurement, XCT systems with cone beam geometry and matrix detectors have become widely used. Continuous improvements in the quality and performance of Xray tubes and devices have led to cone beam XCT systems which can now achieve spa...

Increasing concern about global warming and depleting petroleum reserves have made scientists to focus more on the use of natural fibres such as bagasse, coir, sisal, jute etc. This has resulted in creation of more awareness about the use of natural fibres based materials mainly composites. In past decade there has been many efforts to develop composites to replace the petroleum and other non d...

In recent years many elegant techniques have been developed for the quantification of composite micromechanical parameters. Unfortunately most of these techniques have found little enthusiastic support in the industrial product development environment. We have developed an improved method for obtaining the micromechanical parameters, interfacial shear strength, fibre orientation factor, and fib...

A surface-mounted chirped fibre Bragg grating (CFBG) sensor has been used for the first time to monitor delamination growth within a composite material (a transparent, unidirectionally reinforced glass fibre/epoxy resin double-cantilever beam (DCB) specimen). The specimens were tested using a constant displacement rate, with the delamination length being measured using complementary techniques:...

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of the mechanical properties of FRP reinforcement bars, used as internal reinforcement in concrete structures, at elevated temperatures. Two types of FRP bars namely: carbon fibre reinforced polyester bars of 9.5mm diameter and glass fibre reinforced polyester bars of 9.5mm and 12.7 mm diameter were used in the study. For comparison, conv...

Thermal non-destructive testing and evaluation of glass fibre reinforced plastic materials has gained more importance in aerospace industry due to low weight and high strength capabilities in severe environmental conditions. More recently, pulse compression favorable non-stationary excitation schemes have been exhibiting reliable defect detection capabilities in infrared non-destructive testing...