Case Study

Removing barriers for advanced composites in infrastructure

The ability of traditional materials to sustain much of the modern applied traffic loads on bridges and civil infrastructure is becoming a challenge for responsible agencies within Australia and internationally. Additionally, a significant proportion of today’s civil infrastructure is old and deteriorating, requiring structural retrofitting or even reconstruction.

Australian research has contributed significantly to the recent successful application of repair systems using advanced composite materials, while there are a growing number of small bridges being designed and manufactured in Australia using composite materials. These projects demonstrate the benefits advanced composites deliver to infrastructure projects over traditional materials, in terms of strength, ductility, energy absorption, fatigue life, ease of installation, impact on the environment and aesthetics (creative design).

Clearly there is an urgent need to remove the barriers to the uptake of advanced composites for Australian infrastructure authorities and designers.

From the blog