Providing Confidence in Durable Composites (DURACOMP)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Sch of Engineering
Abstract
Advanced composites have potentially transformative properties compared to other construction materials that offer unparalleled structural solutions. Composites have impacted the aerospace and automotive industries, resulting in lighter, energy efficient solutions. We aim to translate this paradigm to the construction industry by tackling the single largest factor limiting their uptake - durability. This will be achieved through the development of methodology/tools for durability assessment/design.
In the DURACOMP project the consortium team shall investigate the long-term degradation processes of construction composites in order to enhance confidence in their durability. We will achieve this through an ambitious, integrated programme of physical testing and computational modelling that will bring new insights into the behaviour of composites.
A structural-level testing programme, augmented by selected material-scale tests, coupled with uncertainty qualification and quantification, will be undertaken.
The consortium team will utilise advances in multi-scale analysis to develop a computational, predictive modelling capability for the response of degrading of composites. This will enable us to investigate and design the reliability of service lives of safety critical structures.
In the DURACOMP project the consortium team shall investigate the long-term degradation processes of construction composites in order to enhance confidence in their durability. We will achieve this through an ambitious, integrated programme of physical testing and computational modelling that will bring new insights into the behaviour of composites.
A structural-level testing programme, augmented by selected material-scale tests, coupled with uncertainty qualification and quantification, will be undertaken.
The consortium team will utilise advances in multi-scale analysis to develop a computational, predictive modelling capability for the response of degrading of composites. This will enable us to investigate and design the reliability of service lives of safety critical structures.
Planned Impact
The result of fundamental research from this transformative project will be wanted by academic groups in aerospace, automotive, construction and marine who are working on developing computational methods for the life prediction of (safety critical) structures having components of composite material. National excellence in simulation and modelling, with significant international academic impact, will be maintained (and strengthened) because this project combines, uniquely, multi-scale modelling and stochastic reliability analysis with the addition of the computation taking account of societies having to adapt national infrastructure for environmental (climate) change. Structural and civil engineering academics researching with composites for construction will find the material and system-level component physical test results useful. In particular, it is expected that the test methods used to determine the properties for the computational modelling will be highly valued as the community now seeks reliable and relevant information to develop, simple, yet robust, approaches that can allow the design process of safety critical structures of composites to become similar to that with conventional construction materials. Further understanding on the behaviour of connections and joints subjected to fatigue and environmental loading will impact on design and practice, and in all engineering sectors using composite materials.
Five highly-skilled PDRAs will be a most important output from the DURACOMP project. Not only will these researchers have enhanced their specialist expertise, they will have received valuable continuing professional development through working as an integrated member in a larger team of 13 (of which eight are academics). The benefit of having a much larger network of contacts, with diverse expertise will provide for further impact during the PDRAs (industry or academic) careers, after the project ends. The skills obtained as a PDRA researcher working on the DURACOMP project will be valued by industry also.
The level of industry support at the start of the DURACOMP project is not high because the concept for the new paradigm is embryonic (not 12 months old and completion of the team membership was only in July 2012). Impact for industry, and for society at large, is seen by the team as for the medium- to long-term. It is an expectation that deliverables during the DURACOMP project will lead to new strategic partnerships with industry following the one-day workshops in months 24 and 35.These partnerships will speed-up commercial exploitation that helps to improve the nation's wellbeing, via the execution of future critical infrastructure (both for new build and refurbishment). Once the team has used the workshops to demonstrate to others that the new paradigm's methodologies can provide a vital resource for future societal benefits, national infrastructure stakeholders within the supply chain will want to support what natural follows after the DURACOMP project ends. This medium-term impact will lead to wealth creation by, for example, minimising material usage (and thereby CO2), and to the setting-up of a national centre for durability assessment of (low environmental impact) materials that have an exciting role to play in achieving sustainable construction. The long-term impact will be fewer failures during the service lives of infrastructure because design uncertainties will be accounted for in a way that they cannot be today. Impact beyond the UK is assured since there is no equivalent holistic project at this time.
Five highly-skilled PDRAs will be a most important output from the DURACOMP project. Not only will these researchers have enhanced their specialist expertise, they will have received valuable continuing professional development through working as an integrated member in a larger team of 13 (of which eight are academics). The benefit of having a much larger network of contacts, with diverse expertise will provide for further impact during the PDRAs (industry or academic) careers, after the project ends. The skills obtained as a PDRA researcher working on the DURACOMP project will be valued by industry also.
The level of industry support at the start of the DURACOMP project is not high because the concept for the new paradigm is embryonic (not 12 months old and completion of the team membership was only in July 2012). Impact for industry, and for society at large, is seen by the team as for the medium- to long-term. It is an expectation that deliverables during the DURACOMP project will lead to new strategic partnerships with industry following the one-day workshops in months 24 and 35.These partnerships will speed-up commercial exploitation that helps to improve the nation's wellbeing, via the execution of future critical infrastructure (both for new build and refurbishment). Once the team has used the workshops to demonstrate to others that the new paradigm's methodologies can provide a vital resource for future societal benefits, national infrastructure stakeholders within the supply chain will want to support what natural follows after the DURACOMP project ends. This medium-term impact will lead to wealth creation by, for example, minimising material usage (and thereby CO2), and to the setting-up of a national centre for durability assessment of (low environmental impact) materials that have an exciting role to play in achieving sustainable construction. The long-term impact will be fewer failures during the service lives of infrastructure because design uncertainties will be accounted for in a way that they cannot be today. Impact beyond the UK is assured since there is no equivalent holistic project at this time.
Publications
Mottram J T
(2018)
'FRP Bridges - Guidance for Designers'
Grammatikos, S.
(2015)
A 'complete' characterization study of anomalous behaviour of hygrothermally aged FRPs
Grammatikos, SA
(2016)
Anomalous response of a pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer to hygrothermal aging
in Materials and Design
Grammatikos, S.
(2015)
Combined characterization of the effects of hot/wet aging on a pultruded GFRP plate
Pearce, C
(2014)
Computational homogenisation of fibre reinforced composites
Prof. P. Purnell
(2018)
Construction Materials: Their Nature and Behaviour (Fifth Edition)
Grammatikos, S.A.
(2015)
Effects of hygrothermal aging on pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymers: a Complimentary study
Grammatikos S. A.
(2014)
Environmental degradation assessment of pultruded FRP profiles
Zhou X
(2016)
Exploiting the benefits of multi-scale analysis in reliability analysis for composite structures
in Composite Structures
Sebastian W
(2018)
Fibre waviness in pultruded bridge deck profiles: Geometric characterisation and consequences on ultimate behaviour
in Composites Part B: Engineering
Grammatikos S
(2018)
Impedance spectroscopy as a tool for moisture uptake monitoring in construction composites during service
in Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Zhou X
(2018)
Influence of stochastic variations in manufacturing defects on the mechanical performance of textile composites
in Composite Structures
Evernden M.
(2020)
Investigating the reversibility of moisture uptake on the behavior of a pultruded polymer composite used in construction
in ECCM 2018 - 18th European Conference on Composite Materials
Grammatikos S
(2020)
Is Hygrothermal Aging of Construction Polymer Composites a Reversible Process?
in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering
Song M
(2015)
Microstructure of interface between fibre and matrix in 10-year aged GRC modified by calcium sulfoaluminate cement
in Cement and Concrete Research
Sun W
(2017)
Mixed mode fracture properties of GFRP-adhesive interfaces based on video gauge and acoustic emission measurements from specimens with adherend fibres normal to the interfaces
in Composites Part B: Engineering
Grammatikos S
(2015)
Moisture uptake characteristics of a pultruded fibre reinforced polymer flat sheet subjected to hot/wet aging
in Polymer Degradation and Stability
Ullah Z
(2017)
Multi-scale computational homogenisation to predict the long-term durability of composite structures
in Computers & Structures
Ullah Z
(2014)
Multiscale modelling of the textile composite materials
Grammatikos S. A.
(2014)
On the environmental degradation assessment of pultruded fibre reinforced polymers
Grammatikos, S.
(2015)
On the estimates of durability of glass fibre reinforced polymers subjected to hot/wet aging
Zafari B.
(2015)
On the mechanical characterization of pultruded fibre reinforced plate material subjected to hygrothermal aging
in ICCM International Conferences on Composite Materials
Grammatikos S
(2016)
On the response to hygrothermal aging of pultruded FRPs used in the civil engineering sector
in Materials & Design
Zhou X
(2016)
Perturbation-based stochastic multi-scale computational homogenization method for the determination of the effective properties of composite materials with random properties
in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
Zhou X
(2016)
Perturbation-based stochastic multi-scale computational homogenization method for woven textile composites
in International Journal of Solids and Structures
Kaczmarczyk L
(2016)
Prism solid-shell with heterogonous and hierarchical approximation basis
Zhou X
(2017)
Stochastic multi-scale finite element based reliability analysis for laminated composite structures
in Applied Mathematical Modelling
Grammatikos S
(2016)
Thermal cycling effects on the durability of a pultruded GFRP material for off-shore civil engineering structures
in Composite Structures
Ullah Z
(2017)
Three-dimensional nonlinear micro/meso-mechanical response of the fibre-reinforced polymer composites
in Composite Structures
| Description | Research at Bath and Warwick has discovered from laboratory characterization work with coupon sized specimens that simply linking the duration of accelerated (hot-wet) aging to changes in a measured mechanical properties is not ideal. Coupons for different mechanical tests (to determine different strengths and stiffnesses) are often of different shape and size (to match the requirements of a standard test method). As a result the degree of material aging is going to be coupon dependent and this project needs to know how every properties is changing after the same level of conditioning. Previous research has not considered this key factor in experimental design aimed at measuring the long-term change in mechanical properties of fibre reinforced polymer materials. Because our first FRP material in the test programme was an off-the-shelf pultruded flat sheet we had no control on its manufacture, and this composite processing method does not lend itself to the provision of unreinforced (polymer) matrix for resin characterization work. In an attempt to overcome this weakness we sources an FRP material that consists of a glass fibre UD laminae in a resin fusion polyester matrix. We called this material 'FORMAX', and we worked with unreinforced matrix samples and strips of fibre reinforced UD or cross-ply (XP) lay-ups. Aging for mechanical testing was done with strips having the same cross-sectional area to mass. This overcame the varying coupon size weakness when characterizing the pultruded flat sheet. After hot-wet aging and testing to determine how in-plane strengths and stiffness were influence by durability conditioning it was observed that the external manufacturing had not always fully cured the 3 mm thick laminates and that the cured bulk resin was too different from the same resin in the UD and XP composites. This finding show how crucial composite processing will be for the long-term durability of any FRP material. Moreover, we have evidence that shows it could be a major challenge to cure bulk resin so that it has the same chemical/physical form to the resin in FRP material. There will be other discovers from the testing work at the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Warwick. After a critical evaluation of the test results the researcher will be in a position to propose a testing protocol that will allow the industry to know which FRPs are durable and which arte not. It remains early in the development of advanced computational models at the Universities of Glasgow (GLA) and Newcastle-upon-Tyne to be able to confidence identify any significant discoveries or outcomes. Needless-to-say progress has been strong on the multi-scale analysis, and GLA are expecting to have developed, and made active, a full non-linear analysis by the end of the project in July 2016. At NCL the stochastic reliability analysis framework is showing that the variation in results is property dependent and that it could be the Poisson's ratio of the polymer-based matrix which the numerical results are most sensitive too. The last stage of the modelling work at NCL with composites is to implement time dependent structural reliability and explore spectral stochastic multi-scale finite element for special uncertainty. |
| Exploitation Route | An expectation from the DURACOMP project is that we could produce a 'tool kit' (combining test methods and software) that will enable design engineers (and others) to know if a large structure of composite material will be durable (fit for purpose) over the working life of the infrastructure project (say 50 years). This expectation is could not be satisfied. Knowledge and understanding is, however, being transferred to inform the writing of clauses for structural design that has the potential to be a future FRP Eurocode (work of CEN TC/250 Working Group 4). |
| Sectors | Construction |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/duracomp/ |
| Description | An overall understanding from the physical testing programme at the Universities of Bath and Warwick on how fibre reinforced polymer materials can have their mechanical properties modified (often degraded) by environmental aging (temperature and humidity/moisture) was described by Mottram in Section 4.6.5 of J. T. Mottram and J. Henderson. (Eds), 'FRP Bridges - Guidance for Designers', prepared by Composites UK: Construction Sector Group, CIRIA C779, London, 2018, p. 130. ISBN 978-0-86017-794-4 (free) https://tinyurl.com/yy79wl4b. Mottram wrote about 40% of this publication, plus prepared the references, etc., and provided editorial input to the rest. By July 2020 this guidance publication had been downloaded from the CIRIA web-page over 2000 time. The Construction Sector Group of the trade organization Composites UK knows that C779 has been used for a number of new civil engineering works (not just bridges) of FRP materials; see https://compositesuk.co.uk/communication/news/successful-use-c779. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Construction |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Preparations towards a structural Eurocode for Fibre-Polymer Composites (membwr of WG4 and WG4.T2 with CEN/TC250, and B/525 and B/525/0-/04 at BSi (UK)) |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | https://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu/showpublication.php?id=539 |
| Title | Inference of Through-Thickness Stresses in Curves of T-Joints via Strain Gauge Data |
| Description | Strain gauges around the circumference of the transition between web and flange of the GFRP T-joint are used in an unprecedented manner to quantify through thickness stress as well as tangential stresses as the arc of the curve connection is traversed. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Quantification of stresses INSIDE of the joint for verification of predictive analyses. |
| Title | Multi-scale & multi-physics finite element model for composites |
| Description | Implementation of textile composite model in finite element framework using computational homogenisation method. The model captures the evolving bulk properties of composites (thermal, hygral and mechanical). In this implementation plasticity of the matrix and cohesion of interface are also taken into account. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This open source software is in the public domain and has been used by out collaborators at Newcastle University (Gosling). |
| URL | https://bitbucket.org/likask/mofem_um_homogenisation |
| Description | Formax UK Ltd. |
| Organisation | Formax |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Testing of FORMAX materials to characterise how and why mechanical properties change with hot/wet aging that simulates how the durability of the materials could change over the life time of an FRP structure. |
| Collaborator Contribution | To provide a fibre reinforcement for the composite processing of two materials for the characterisation work. The two laminates had a unidirectional and a cross-ply lay-up. East Coast Fibreglass were sub-contracted to make the panels that were used in test programmes at Bath and Warwick Universities. |
| Impact | Publications are to appear. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Title | MoFEM |
| Description | MoFEM (Mesh Oriented Finite Element Method) is a C++ library supporting the solution of finite elements problems. It integrates advanced numerical tools for solving large-scale, multi-physics finite element analysis on multiple computer platforms, from laptops to high performance computers. It is a flexible, future-proof and sustainable software framework, enabling researchers to focus on the underlying physics and application of their work. It provides a shared software development platforms for new advances in FE technology and associated numerical techniques (e.g. parallel computing, mesh adaptivity and evolving geometries). It integrates software development infrastructure, with shared repositories, version control, continuous code testing, validation, code documentation software, naming conventions, etc. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | MoFEM is being evaluated by the nuclear industry to be used for possible future safety cases related to life extension of the UK's fleet of Advanced Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactors (AGRs). MoFEM provides a finite element analysis framework for the durability analysis of composites. |
| URL | http://mofem.eng.gla.ac.uk/mofem/html/index.html |
| Description | Confidence in Durable Composites (DURACOMP) in the proceedings of the FIF5 forum (EPSRC Network) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk publicized the DURACOMP project to other structural and geotechnical engineers and started communications with colleagues working on similar multi-partner EPSRC projects. None known as of 08/11/14. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www-fif.construction.cam.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Talk to industry and academics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting of bridge owners, academics and practitioners focused on FRP uses in civil engineering applications. Held at Danish Embassy in London in August 2016. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | University Visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to the Composites Construction Lab (CCLab) group, led by Professor Thomas Keller, at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://memento.epfl.ch/event/civil-engineering-structures-incorporating-advance/ |