The first international FRC workshop supported by RILEM and ACI was held in Bergamo (Italy) in 2004. At that time, lack of specific building codes and standards was identified as the main inhibitor to the application of this technology in engineering practice. The workshop aim was placed on identification of applications, guidelines, and research needs in order for this advanced technology to be transferred to professional practice. The second international FRC workshop, held in Montreal (Canada) in 2014, was the first ACI-fib joint technical event. Many of the objectives identified in 2004 had been achieved by various groups of researchers who shared a common interest in extending the application of FRC materials into the realm of structural engineering and design. The aim of the workshop was to provide the State-of-the-Art on the recent progress that had been made in term of specifications and actual applications for building and bridge projects in Europe and NorthAmerica. The rapid development of codes, the introduction of new materials and the growing interest of the construction industry suggest presenting this forum at closer intervals. In this context the third international FRC workshop is held in Desenzano (Italy), four years after Montreal. In this first ACI-fib-RILEM joint technical event, the maturity gained through the recent technological developments and large-scale applications will be used to show the acceptability of the concrete design using various fiber compositions. The growing interests of civil infrastructure owners in ultrahigh-performance fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFR or UHPC?) and synthetic fibres in structural applications bring new challenges in terms of concrete technology and design recommendations. In such a short period of time we have witnessed the proliferation of the use of fibers as structural reinforcement in various applications such as industrial slabs, elevated slabs, precast tunnel lining sections, foundations, as well bridge decks. We are now moving towards addressing many durability based design requirements by the use of fibers, as well as the general serviceability based design. In that perspective, the aim of FRC2018 workshop is to provide the State-of-the-Art on the recent progress in term of specifications development, actual applications, and to expose users and researchers to tomorrow’s challenges in the design and construction of a wide variety of structural applications. We appreciate the enormous support we have received from all three sponsoring organisations and look forward to paving the path for future collaborations in various areas of common interest so that the developmental work and implementation of new specifications and design procedures can be expedited internationally
Webpage of the Workshop: https://frc2018.unibs.it/
Two of our published paper can be seen at the link below:
Opportunities for synthetic fibre reinforcement in concrete tramlines
