Reflections on the Development and Use of FRPs and SHM in Canada

by Aftab A. Mufti, President, ISIS Canada

About 20 years ago, Professor Urs Meier of EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research) wrote a paper on a futuristic bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar with a main span of 8.4 km. Since a bridge with such a long span was not possible with conventional building materials, i.e. steel and concrete, Professor Meier proposed that this structure be made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer, a material that was being used in Canada in the aerospace and automotive industry but not in civil infrastructure. When I read this paper, my colleagues and I decided to pay a visit to Professor Meier at his laboratories in Zurich. This visit to EMPA convinced me that there was an urgent need in Canada to conduct extensive research into the use of fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) - or Advanced Composite Materials (ACMs) as they are otherwise called - in bridges and other civil structures.

Immediately upon our return from Zurich in 1989, myself and two of my research colleagues published a position paper entitled, “Has the time come for advanced composite materials in bridges?” Others would have been content to just publish the paper, but not us. Anxious to translate our vision into action, I asked the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) to form a technical committee on ACM in bridges and structures, with the goal of fast-tracking research in the use of ACM in civil structures. The committee was quickly formed and I was appointed its chair. The CSCE committee was very proactive in achieving its goal. It persuaded the Federal Government of Canada to partially finance fact-finding missions to Western Europe in 1990 and to Japan in 1991; it being noted that extensive research was being conducted in these countries on the subject under consideration. The work of the two missions led to two state-of-the art books (Advanced Composite Materials in Bridges and Structures, ISBN: 0-921303-40-8; and Advanced Composite Materials with Application to Bridges, ISBN: 0-921303-28-9), which are still being cited in technical literature.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of my colleagues and business associates, the CSCE Technical Committee grew in 1992 into the ACMBS (Advanced Composite Materials in Bridges and Structures) Network of Canada. The goal of this Federal Government-sponsored network was to promote alliances between Canadian industries and universities in the field of advanced composites and materials. I was elected as the chair of this new network; and through the efforts of my colleagues and myself, we quickly achieved a dramatic increase in both the research and the use of advanced composite materials in civil structures in Canada. A number of bridges were built in Canada to demonstrate the use of these futuristic building materials and monitoring technologies. These structures have now stood the test of time proving their durability and value to the Canadian economy and public.

The formation of the ISIS (Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures) Canada Research Network in 1995 was a natural sequel to the ACMBS Network of Canada. The goal of the new network is to promote research activity in Canada in the use of innovative building materials and methods in civil infrastructure and its mandate is to revolutionize the design and construction of civil engineering structures so that they will last 100 instead of 50 years. I was, once again, very honoured when my colleagues paid me the tribute of appointing me as the president of ISIS Canada when the first president left to take up a position elsewhere.

It is important to note that 20 years ago not a single research project was on the books in Canadian universities on the use of ACM or FRP in civil structures. Today, there are more than 200 Canadian researchers devoting themselves to this topic. The use of ACM in civil structures in Canada is now on par with that of Western Europe and Japan.

The journey from a visit to the EMPA laboratories to the formation of ISIS Canada was not an isolated event as it initiated the concept of using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for innovative structures using fibre reinforced polymers. The field of monitoring structures with the help of electronic and photonic sensors in research is not new, but it needed an entity such as ISIS Canada to promote its general use in the field. The monitoring of field projects by ISIS led by natural progression to the development of a new discipline ‘civionics’, which was designed to instruct new and practicing engineers in the proper use and installation techniques of sensor systems for monitoring the health of civil structures with electronic and photonic sensors. This was essential for the development of intelligent infrastructure. The next major step required in this process, for SHM and FRPs to be internationally accepted by the civil engineering community, was the development of internationally-accepted guidelines for the application, use and interpretation of data from SHM installations. Once again, ISIS spearheaded the formation of an international association whose purpose was the development of an international set of guidelines to ensure uniform quality control in these areas. The association was called the International Society for SHM of Structures (ISHMII); and it is with pride that I accepted the invitation by my colleagues to become the founding president of this organization.

Also, for the use of innovative materials to become an acceptable, widely utilized tool by civil engineers in the field, it was necessary for their comfort level and the safety of the travelling public, to develop a uniform set of guidelines in the form of a building code that would be acceptable to government regulatory bodies. To ensure this acceptance, my colleagues and I were invited to form the technical subcommittee that re-wrote a section of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) to allow for the use of FRP materials in the construction and rehabilitation of bridges and bridge components in Canada. This committee, which I chaired, recently completed its work. The revised section was unanimously accepted by the Technical Committee of the Canadian Standards Association and is expected to be published Canada-wide in November 2006.

Structural health monitoring and innovative structures incorporating advanced composite materials are now an established fact in Canada and in many other parts of the world thanks to the efforts of many including the ACMBS Committee, ISIS Canada, ISHMII and many other notable individuals. These committees are comprised of the leading scientific minds in civil, electrical and computer engineering, as well as experienced business leaders. Through their efforts, new, safer, more durable structures are being created; and as well, older infrastructure is being rehabilitated. This has resulted in significant cost savings in the area of maintenance, but more importantly, has contributed to the safety of the travelling public. Much has been accomplished, but there is so much more to do. It is an exciting time in the field of engineering and I would like to encourage all young people who love mathematics, the beauty of design, the art of lasting infrastructure, and the satisfaction of creating something for posterity, to give this field some thought. Engineering has been and continues to be a passion in my life and I can think of no greater reward than to spend one’s life fulfilling a dream.