World survey of civil engineering programs on fiber reinforced polymer composites for construction

The Editorial Board of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Composites for Construction (Lawrence C. Bank, Editor) sponsored a survey of the civil/structural engineering programs around the world on the subject of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, excluding the traditional steel-concrete composite construction and fiber reinforced concrete. This paper summarizes the main results from the survey. During the last decade, considerable focus has been devoted to the use of FRP composites in construction. The main driving force is the need for revitalizing the aging infrastructure with innovative materials and structural systems that last longer and require less maintenance. As the construction industry embraces FRPs in the field, the need for educating civil engineers with background on the subject has become more evident. Despite a significant number of field applications and laboratory research, the survey shows that FRPs have not yet been fully implemented in the engineering curricula, and the classrooms are still lagging behind. To improve this situation, civil engineering and their extension programs must provide sufficient training on unique features of FRPs so that engineers could design or specify them in construction. This survey should be repeated as a gauging tool again at the end of this decade