An extensive ongoing research program connecting material behavior, structural experiments, system-level analysis, and future design provisions.
Engineering question
How can durable GFRP reinforcement be used in earthquake-resisting concrete systems while accounting for its material behavior and system-level demands?
Program overviewThe research connects durability and post-earthquake recovery challenges with experimental, analytical, and numerical investigations. The overview labels the five phases I–V; the progress report uses Phase 0–IV.Open full-size ↗
Combined research & fellowship supportCAD $800k+
Across the research program, fellowships, and industrial support.
Two experimental series covering 12 connections, including GFRP and hybrid reinforcement configurations. Extended numerical and parametric work continues.
04Component and system-level numerical studiesMain studies completed; hybrid cases ongoing+
Moment-frame and shear-wall modeling, nonlinear time-history analysis, parametric studies, incremental dynamic analysis, and fragility assessment.
05Code-form models and design provisionsOngoing+
Development-length models, design and detailing provisions, seismic performance factors, and procedures and acceptance criteria for structural analysis.
Significance
From component evidence to seismic design
Component tests alone cannot establish how complete GFRP-RC systems will perform during earthquakes. This program addresses the missing connection between member behavior, system response, seismic demands, and reliable design criteria. Its findings are intended to inform future design standards for GFRP-reinforced seismic force-resisting systems.
The research gapA qualitative illustration of the gap between extensive component-level evidence and more limited knowledge of system-level behavior, seismic demand, fragility, and collapse.Open full-size ↗Connecting deformation capacity with seismic demandComponent evidence and validated models support system-level analysis, acceptance limits, and future design and detailing provisions.Open full-size ↗Research outcomes
Evidence across materials, members, and systems
Member modeling
A practical framework for GFRP-RC members that captures reinforcement response, concrete behavior, joint distortion, and strain penetration. Published in Engineering Structures in 2026.
Bond and anchorage
Completed beam-end experiments and analytical work examining cyclic GFRP bond behavior and its implications for anchorage and development length.
Connection behavior
Completed connection tests investigating confinement, reinforcement ratio, hybrid GFRP–steel and GFRP–stainless-steel reinforcement, and initial pulse loading.
Moment-frame performance
Comparative frame analyses examining GFRP and steel reinforcement, drift demands, residual deformation, failure progression, and collapse behavior.
Shear-wall assessment
Model validation and parametric studies linking wall properties to response measures, limit states, and seismic fragility.
Design development
Ongoing translation of research evidence into design and detailing models, performance factors, and analysis acceptance criteria.
Member and connection models are assessed against component experiments. Full multi-story system response remains an extrapolation, with system-level experimental validation an important next step.
Continuing research
Topics for forthcoming research outputs
Cyclic bond and development length of GFRP reinforcement
Inelastic deformation and detailing of beam–column connections
Shear-wall modeling and limit-state capacity prediction
Frame and wall fragility, collapse assessment, and seismic performance factors
Synthesis of reversed-cyclic component evidence for seismic design provisions
