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This paper deals with one of the new research areas of Professor Hans Wolf Reinhardt, namely textile-reinforced structural members. Typically, wood is a light, versatile construction material well known for its ease of installation. The major drawbacks are its relatively low strength and stiffness, poor visco-elastic long-term deformation, and insufficient fire resistance. The results presented in this paper deal with the use of high modulus carbon / inorganic polymer composite skins to fabricate a sandwich plate that can be engineered to obtain high strength, high stiffness, and excellent fire resistance. The inorganic polymer is fire-resistant, can withstand 800°C indefinitely, and provides protection for both carbon fibers and the wood substrate. Sandwich plates were fabricated using balsa wood for applications that are weight-critical such as those in aerospace and naval structures. For applications in buildings, beams cut from typical woods such as oak were strengthened to improve their flexural strength and long-term deflection stability. The modulus of carbon fiber was 600 GPa and high stiffness values can be obtained with a very low reinforcement ratio. The strengthened beams were tested in flexure; while the fire resistance was evaluated, using the standard OSU (Ohio State University) heat release and NBS (National Bureau of Standards) smoke burner tests. The strengthened composite satisfied the high temperature (fire) requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States of America. This paper presents the flexural and high temperature response of the strengthened beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results reported in this paper deal with the bond properties between concrete and an inorganic polymer Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP). Tests were conducted using reinforced and plain concrete beams strengthened with carbon fibers and inorganic matrix. Beams were tested under flexural monotonic loading. None of the beams failed by FRP delamination, which is the most common mode of failure for organic polymer FRP strengthened beams. Test results and analysis with particular focus on failure mechanism are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are thousands of protected forest areas existing on earth, yet the deforestation rate continues unabated both inside and outside the protected areas especially in the tropical forests. It identifies the less effectiveness of the current conservation strategies, which is normally oriented around the forest area cover rather than the quality of the protected areas. This calls for realistic and effective management strategies for forests. Based on the drawbacks the present study aims at identifying conservation priority sites within the protected areas (Reserved Forests) of Shervarayan hills, Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The remnant forest patches having less effective management/protection is identified and analysed for its qualitative contribution to the ecosystem. Quadrats of 20 × 20 m were laid in different vegetation based on the percentage of forest cover and assess the species diversity pertaining the richness, Endemism and Red list categories. Thematic layers (maps) such as vegetation type, floristic species richness, floristic endemism, and red list flora are created and categorized according to their weightage classes and overlaid in GIS domain to demarcate the Conservation Priority Zones (CPZ). The CPZ are classified according to the priority status i.e., high, moderate and low based on the contributing species richness, levels of endemism and concentration of Red listed plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]