ON INNOVATIVE TEACHING APPROACHES AND THEIR APPLICATION TO FRPS IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

摘要

When the first ACMBS Conference took place in Sherbrooke in 1992, advanced composite materials, more often referred to as fibre-reinforced polymers (FRPs) now, were still a novelty in structural engineering. The introduction of these new materials in civil engineering and construction was viewed as part of a general innovation trend, encouraged by the significant acceptance that they had already made in other fields such as aeronautics and transportation industries. The potential for FRPs was then viewed as especially promising for the repair and upgrading of existing bridges and other transportation-related infrastructures. Over the last twenty years, the use of FRPs in construction has indeed progressed significantly; codes and standards have been adopted, design methods standardized, and specific products developed for a growing market. However, the teaching of structural design with FRPs still remains a specialty topic with very little space in the civil or construction engineering curriculum. It is therefore necessary to introduce FRPs to the student in innovative ways. This brief paper focuses on three approaches experimented by the author at the Universite de Sherbrooke, and on their similarities with other significant initiatives elsewhere.