The aim of this review article is to examine solutions and challenges associated with composite construction. Structural steel and concrete, each of the two materials can be used to its best advantage and, therefore, composite structures have proved economical in terms of overall cost. Combination of steel and concrete systems has been conceived on the premises that each type of construction of...

Lasers that produce 100 kW level diffraction limited power will require beam combining due to fundamental thermal and nonlinear limitations on the power of single aperture lasers. Towards this goal, we present high power, high spectral density beam combining by volume Bragg gratings of five 150 W beams with a spectral separation of 0.25 nm between beams, the narrowest to date for high power. Wi...

A total Lagrangian finite element FE model has been formulated for the nonlinear inelastic analysis of both composite beams and columns. An accurate rotation matrix is used in the position vector analysis and nonlinear strain derivations. The slip between the steel and concrete components due to the flexible shear connection at their interface is considered as an independent displacement in the...

The finite element method is employed for the flexural-torsional linear buckling analysis of beams of arbitrarily shaped composite cross-section taking into account generalized warping (shear lag effects due to both flexure and torsion). The contacting materials, that constitute the composite cross section, may include a finite number of holes. A compressive axial load is applied to the beam. The...

A wide range of composite material forms are finding use in today’s aerospace, automotive, and other transportation industry segments. The Boeing 787 commercial airliner, unveiled in 2007, features over 50% carbon fiber composites by structural weight, while the entire structure of the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento supercar, unveiled in 2011, is made exclusively from carbon fiber composites [1-2]....