Large-Scale Composite Structures – Challenges and Opportunities

Dear Colleagues,

Composite materials are a continuous and omnipresent feature of the present and are expected to expand for the future. They show massive advantages in weight and strength/stiffness compared to other, more conventional materials. Nevertheless, other aspects such as cost, sustainability, maintainability, and eco-impact are still areas in which improvements are sought. Furthermore, large (1 to 10 meters) and very large (beyond 10 meters) scale structures, which are erected typically using more traditional materials (except perhaps for aeronautics/aerospace and maritime applications), could benefit from the usual advantages of composites. Design methods derived from established procedures for simpler materials have now considerably evolved, and new, improved manufacturing processes are continuously seeing the light of day.

The larger the structure, the more critical some aspects become, such as environmental sustainability, life-cycle cost, life-cycle engineering and life-cycle assessment, incorporation of natural materials, weight reduction as a significant driver of energy-saving, hybrid manufacturing processes, etc.

This Special Issue aims to look at composites beyond today, both in terms of applications and manufacturing processes. What recent advances will enable a fresh look at the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of large and geometrically complex composite structures? What manufacturing processes can be enhanced to cater for these new structures? What new components can be incorporated into composites to enhance specific behavioral (structural, cost, maintenance, eco-impact, etc.) aspects? How can we redefine how composites are designed, used, disposed of, or potentially reused in large structures? Can we manufacture for design instead of designing for manufacture? The analysis of these extensive and ill-defined problems can no longer focus on specific issues: It has to tackle a web of influences ranging from design to production, from supply chain to end-of-life, from consumer preference to market trends public awareness to public policy, etc.

Manuscripts submitted to this Special Issue should tackle the specific and/or the broad, the technical and/or the social, the environmental and/or the financial sustainability. Especially welcome are manuscripts which bridge these fields to produce a web of knowledge that may inform the scientific and the industrial community on ways to move forward and exploit the advantages of composite materials while mitigating their drawbacks for large structures.

Dr. Arlindo Silva
Carlos Bañon
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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