International Workshop on Structural Composites for Infrastructure Application

十多年来，修复和升级现有的土木工程基础设施一直是一个非常重要的问题。桥面板、横梁、梁和柱、建筑物、停车场结构和其他结构的退化可能是由于老化、环境引起的退化、初始设计和/或施工不良、缺乏维护以及地震等意外事件。结构加固的材料、方法和技术的最新发展是多种多样的。纤维增强聚合物（FRP）复合材料是当今最先进的技术之一，在预应力FRP筋和FRP筋加固桥梁和结构方面也有许多应用。结构工程师们认为先进复合材料在建筑业的应用前景广阔。本次研讨会的举办是基于这样一个前提，即交流美国和外国在利用FRP产品修复现有结构方面的经验，对双方都有利。该研讨会将重点放在使用玻璃钢修复古老的结构。与复合材料相关的研究已经在美国进行，加拿大、欧洲、埃及和日本。然而，美国、日本和欧洲的研究人员之间的交流很少。有必要进行先进经验的国际交流，以提高研究效率，并确保美国处于工程研究的领先地位。来自美国、加拿大、欧洲、日本和中东的专家将确定未来合作项目的主题，包括使用FRP修复、加固和修复结构。将与埃及文化部合作组织对埃及历史建筑的实地考察，以调查使用FRP修复纪念碑和历史建筑（数百年历史）的可能性。为了确保研讨会富有成效，预计将有来自世界各地的大学，研究中心，桥梁当局和咨询公司的约90名专家参加。每个参与者将提交一份关于其中一个主题的书面材料。讨论情况、补充材料和最后说明将列入讲习班议事录。会议记录将在美国广泛分发给研究人员和代码编写人员。研讨会将于2003年12月16-17日在埃及开罗举行。开罗是埃及的首都，也是非洲最大的城市。

The issue of repairing and upgrading the existing civil engineering infrastructure has beenone of great importance for over a decade. Deterioration of bridge decks, beams, girdersand columns, buildings, parking structures and others may be attributed to ageing,environmentally induced degradation, poor initial design and/or construction, lack ofmaintenance, and to accidental events such as earthquakes. Recent developments relatedto materials, methods and techniques for structural strengthening have been various. Oneof today's state-of-the-art techniques is the use of externally bonded fiber reinforcedpolymer (FRP) composites.There are also many applications in the area of using prestressed FRP tendons and FRPbars to reinforce bridges and structures. Structural engineers view the use of advancedcomposites as highly promising in the construction industry currently.The Workshop is organized on the premise that the exchange of existing American andforeign experience in the area of utilizing FRP products in repairing existing structures isbeneficial for both parties. The workshop will focus on the repair of ancient structuresusing FRP. Research related to composite materials has been carried out in the U.S.,Canada, Europe, Egypt, and Japan. However, there has been little communicationbetween the American, Japanese, and European researchers. There is a need for aninternational exchange of advanced experience to increase the research efficiency and toinsure that the United States is at the leading edge of engineering research. Experts fromthe United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East will identify the topics forfuture cooperative projects in the area of repair, reinforcing, and rehabilitation ofstructures using FRP. Site visits will be organized to historical structures in Egypt incollaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to investigate the possibility of usingFRP to repair monuments and historical structures (several hundred years old).In order to ensure a productive workshop, the expected participation will be about 90specialists from universities, research centers, bridge authorities and consultingcompanies from around the world. Each participant will submit a written contribution onone of the topics. The discussions, additional contributions and final recommendationswill be included in the Workshop Proceedings. The Proceedings will be widelydistributed in the US to researchers and code writers. The presentations will also be madeavailable at various professional meetings and conferences (ASCE, ACI) as well as inprofessional journals.The Workshop is scheduled for December 16-17, 2003, in Cairo, Egypt. Cairo is thecapital of Egypt and is the largest city in Africa.