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On November 14, CORE Group member David Martins defended his thesis titled “Monotonic, cyclic and seismic behaviour of pultruded structures: from connections to full-scale frames”. The thesis was unanimously approved “With Distinction and Honour” - i.e., maximum grade available - by a jury composed of Prof. Eduardo Júlio (IST-UL), Prof. Luís Calado (IST-UL), Prof. Francesco Ascione (Università Degli Studi di Salerno), Prof. Tao Yu (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Prof. Luís Guerreiro (IST-UL) and Dr. José Gonilha (IST-UL). Dr. David Martins, supervised by Dr. José Gonilha (CORE Group), Prof. João Ramôa Correia (CORE Group), and Prof. Nuno Silvestre (IDMEC), developed a comprehensive study on the mechanical behaviour of GFRP frame structures, focusing on the development of beam-to-column connection technology and their influence in the frames’ structural behaviour. The research was…

CORE Group member David Martins was awarded the 2021 Young Engineer Innovation Award (1st prize), attributed by the Portuguese Engineering Council (Ordem dos Engenheiros), for the research developed in his PhD project regarding the "Seismic behaviour of GFRP structures – Connections, plane and tri-dimensional frames”. We congratulate David for this outstanding achievement!

The PhD defense of CORE Group member Pietro Mazzuca took place on September 27 at the University of Calabria, Italy, where he presented his thesis titled “Fire behaviour of GFRP sandwich panels for the rehabilitation of building floors”. The thesis was unanimously approved “With Distinction and Honour” by a jury composed of Professor Giuseppina Balassone (University of Naples Federico II, Italy), Professor Melvin Arias Polanco (Technological Institute of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), Professor Stefano Patruno (University of Nicosia, Cyprus), Prof. Francesco Bencardino (University of Calabria, Italy) and Dr. Mário Garrido (Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal). Pietro developed experimental and numerical studies about the fire resistance behaviour of sandwich panels composed of GFRP face sheets and longitudinal webs, and two different core materials, namely polyurethane (PUR) foam and polyethylene…

The PhD defense of CORE Group member Inês Rosa took place on June 22, where she presented her thesis titled “Fire behaviour of concrete structures reinforced with GFRP bars”. The thesis was unanimously approved “With Distinction and Honour” by a jury composed of Professor Luke Bisby (School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Professor João Almeida (IST-UL), Professor Hamzeh Hajiloo (Carleton University, Canada), and Dr. João Pedro Firmo (IST-UL). Inês developed a comprehensive study about the fire behaviour of RC structures comprising GFRP bars. The research was conducted along three complementary strands, comprising: (i) an extensive experimental campaign performed at different scales of analysis, including the characterization of the bars’ mechanical properties over a wide range of temperatures, their bond behaviour with concrete at elevated temperatures, and the…

The PhD defense of CORE Group member Mateus Hofmann took place today, March 21, who presented his thesis titled “Sustainable bio-based resins and fibre-polymer composites for civil engineering structural applications”. The thesis was unanimously approved “With Distinction and Honour” by a jury composed of Professor Jorge de Brito (IST-UL), Professor Jorge Coelho (FCTUC), Dr. Susana Cabral-Fonseca (LNEC), Professor Fernando Branco (IST-UL) and Professor João Ramôa Correia (IST-UL). During the last 4 years, Mateus developed bio-based unsaturated polyester resins for structural applications in FRP composite materials under the supervision of Professor João Ramôa Correia and co-supervision of Dr. Mário Garrido and Professor João Bordado. We congratulate Mateus Hofmann on receiving the Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering by Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) and wish him the greatest success in his…

The paper “Biobased Thermosetting Polyester Resin for High-Performance Applications” was selected for the front cover of the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering journal (Volume 10, Issue 11, published on March 21, 2022). This paper shows some of the work developed within the CORE Group towards the development of novel routes for achieving biobased unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs) from building blocks derived from renewable raw materials and reactive diluents with low styrene content. The bio-based UPRs highlighted in this paper exhibited high mechanical and thermomechanical performance while having over 50% (by weight) of their content derived from renewable resources. Below you can find the abstract for this paper: “Reducing the dependency from petroleum-based monomers and crosslinkers is an increasingly important goal for the plastics industry. This is being enabled by the…

The Council of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC) attributed the organization of the 12th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering (CICE) to Instituto Superior Técnico, the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering and the University of Minho. The CICE2025, jointly organized by these three host institutions, will be held at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, from 9 to 11 July 2025. Save the date!

The paper “GFRP beam-to-column connection using stainless steel cleats” by David Martins, José Gonilha, João Correia and Nuno Silvestre was distinguished with the “Best Paper Award” in the category “FRP in new construction” by the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC), on occasion of the 10th International Conference on Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering (CICE 2020/2021), held in Istanbul, Turkey on December 8-10, 2021. Below you can find the abstract for this paper: “Pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) profiles are increasingly finding their way in civil engineering structural applications. The design of GFRP connections between profiles is of great relevance, as they influence the members’ deflections and often govern design at ultimate limit states, being prone to brittle failure modes. The first part of this paper…

There is currently an open position in the CORE Group for a PhD researcher envisaging the development of a durability study and life cycle assessment (LCA) of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials incorporating bio-based resins derived from renewable resources ("bio-composites"), in the scope of the EcoComposite (PTDC/ECI-EGC/29597/2017) research project, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The successful candidate will carry out a work programme comprising the following activities: (i) accelerated ageing and subsequent mechanical characterization of bio-composites, (ii) execution of the life cycle inventory for the relevant materials and processes, (iii) environmental and economic "cradle-to-gate" LCA of the bio-composites, and (iv) comparison between the environmental and economic impacts of the bio-composites and functionally equivalent conventional FRP composites produced…

The CORE Group currently has seven ongoing MSc dissertations, covering topics such as durability, behaviour under elevated temperature, fire exposure, and damage progression modelling of FRP materials. A definite commitment to improving the sustainability of fibre-polymer composites is also reflected in these dissertations, with three studies concerning bio-based and environmentally friendlier FRP solutions. Meet our MSc students and their dissertation topics: Afonso Raynal e Menezes Paes de AtaídeEN: Elevated temperature mechanical behaviour of FRP composite materials: Effects of fibre architecturePT: Comportamento mecânico de materiais compósitos FRP a temperatura elevada: Influência da arquitetura de fibras Ana Carolina Mendes LopezEN: Durability of bio-based CFRP laminates for structural strengtheningPT: Durabilidade de bio-laminados CFRP para reforço estrutural Beatriz Maria Martins Antunes Tavares da SilvaEN: Durability of vacuum infused FRP composite bridge decksPT: Durabilidade de…