Fibre-Wound Bio-Composites (FIBRAS)

Fibre-Wound Bio-Composites

Led by Professor Marta Gil P茅rez, the research line on Fibre-Wound Bio-Composites for Resourceful Architectural Structures (FIBRAS) explores a promising solution through the use of fibre-polymer composite structures manufactured via robotic filament winding. These lattice composite structures offer high-performance, lightweight alternatives that substantially decrease material consumption. Moreover, digital fabrication techniques help minimise waste while enhancing design efficiency and production processes.

The FIBRAS research group aims to transform material-efficiency strategies into comprehensive eco-effectiveness approaches, enabling the design of sustainable structural systems with bio-based materials and bridging the gap between research and industry. It encompasses various initiatives, including funded research projects, graduation theses, and PhD studies, reflecting a multidisciplinary approach to addressing one of the construction industry's most pressing issues.

SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURAL DESIGN

To fully achieve sustainable structural design, the research will evolve to embrace circularity principles鈥攏arrowing, slowing, and closing the resource loop鈥攖ranslating into strategies of 鈥渦se less,鈥� 鈥渦se longer,鈥� and 鈥渦se again.鈥� Key areas of focus include:

Material Selection: Investigating various emerging bio-based fibre composites, suitable fabrication techniques, and material characterization strategies that align with fabrication methods, complemented by life cycle assessment feedback.
Computational Design Workflow: Implementing a design workflow that integrates structural design, simulation, and fabrication feedback with relevant disciplines, enhancing system simulation and characterization to reduce material usage.
Reliability and Durability: Improving the reliability and durability of novel structural systems through monitoring and standardization methods essential for high-uncertainty structures. These methods will also facilitate structural calibration, further optimizing design and material consumption. Standardization efforts will focus on creating and gathering structural data to enhance structural codes, such as the Eurocode.
Reuse and Recycling: Considering reuse and recycling from the early design stages. Bio-based material systems present opportunities for cascading strategies that maximize resource effectiveness. For example, standardized modular structures can follow a "design for disassembly" approach, enabling system reuse. Other recycling strategies will also be explored to achieve full material energy recovery.

EXPERIMENTAL WORK

FIBRAS embraces an experimental approach rooted in structural engineering principles to advance the use of fibre-wound bio-composites. Our work focuses on developing and refining a custom robotic filament winding setup鈥攊ncluding a bespoke impregnation system鈥攖o improve fabrication control, consistency, and performance.

Structural behaviour is at the heart of our investigations. We prototype and test specimens to evaluate mechanical properties such as tensile strength, stiffness, and load-bearing capacity. This hands-on research is essential for understanding the variability and anisotropy of bio-based composites, which often behave unpredictably under load.

By integrating mechanical testing with design and fabrication, we generate the structural data needed to inform reliable modelling and simulation. Our goal is to establish engineering principles for these emerging materials and contribute to performance-based design standards that support their use in sustainable construction.

OUR RESEARCH THEMES

Digital Fabrication

We develop and refine robotic filament winding techniques to improve process control and reduce variability in composite production. By enhancing precision in fibre placement and resin impregnation, we aim to achieve more consistent material properties. This enables higher-quality, scalable fabrication aligned with sustainable construction goals.

Design of Structures

Our research in this area focuses on designing fibre-wound bio-composites tailored for specific structural applications. We optimize material usage by customizing fibre orientation and density to meet defined load-bearing requirements. This approach ensures performance efficiency while minimizing environmental impact.

Material Characterization

We investigate the mechanical behavior of bio-composites across multiple scales, from individual fibres to full structural elements. By characterizing how material and fabrication parameters influence performance, we work to reduce uncertainty and improve predictability. These insights feed directly into design, simulation, and standardization efforts.

Structural Simulation

We enhance simulation models by integrating fabrication-specific parameters such as fibre paths, resin content, and material variability. This allows for more accurate prediction of structural performance under real-world conditions. Our goal is to bridge the gap between digital design and physical behavior through validated, data-informed models.

Reliability Assessment

Reliability analysis is central to assessing the safety and long-term viability of our composite systems. We apply probabilistic methods and statistical analysis to evaluate performance variability and failure risks. By doing so, we aim to raise the safety standards of bio-composite structures and support their adoption in sustainable design practices.

Integration of Function

We explore multifunctionality on fibre-wound bio-composite elements to go beyond structural performance, expanding their architectural potential to more holistic, sustainable solutions. These include acoustic performance, thermal regulation, or integration with green systems such as vegetation or air purification.

Projects

Safety and sustainability in bio-based composites鈥� structural design

Research and develop a comprehensive design framework that integrates safety assessment and sustainability considerations for bio-based composite materials, addressing the current challenges and gaps in understanding their performance and characteristics. The main key objectives and challenges of this PhD project include:

Explore bio-based fibre-polymer composite materials as a promising avenue for sustainable construction
Address the scarcity of comprehensive data regarding the performance and characteristics of bio-based composite materials.
Study the structural reliability of bio-based composite materials and develop a comprehensive design framework to determine their safety.
Integrate sustainability considerations into the structural design process to optimize building performance and minimize environmental impact.

Bio-based composites processing and structural design for architecture

Research and development of a bio-based fibre composite structural system for architectural applications enhancing material processing parameters while characterizing its structural performance. The main challenges of this PhD project include:

Evaluate bio-based matrix systems for compatibility with flax fibres and optimize the process of filament winding to enhance material quality and consistency.
Characterize the mechanical properties of the bio-based composite, and develop scalability strategies to transfer small-scale testing results to large-scale designs.

Demonstrate the feasibility of bio-based composites in architectural applications through the design of a structural system with enhanced fabrication and structural properties.

Related courses

In this course, students will explore the sustainable design of structures following the 3 principles of circular design: narrowing, slowing, and closing the structure's resource loop. These principles are translated into the strategies of "use less", "use longer", and "use again". The final aim of the course is to learn how to transform a material-efficient structure into a complete eco-effective design.

In this course, students will explore digital design and manufacturing technologies for applications in the field of structural engineering and design. These new technologies have great potential to address the sustainability and productivity challenges in our field by optimizing the material use in structures and building them in an automated way. At the same time, these new technologies come with an added complexity and new (fabrication) constraints, which should be considered from an early design stage onwards.

The course is centered around the concepts of safety, reliability, and failure, and the different ways to address them in structural design. The difference between risk-informed, reliability-based, and semi-probabilistic design methods, their use and limitations, and the way they are integrated into structural codes will be explained. Emphasis will be placed on the challenges of structural design, safety, and reliability, particularly for systems that fall outside the scope of traditional building codes for demonstrating structural safety.

This course explores different research projects within the SED unit. The research project will include a pre-described research question, research object or subject, research goal, and research method. Every semester, the FIBRAS team offers a topic to build upon previous experimental activities, contributing to the research field. The work in this research project integrates theoretical studies with experiments on fibre-wound bio-composites.

As part of the graduation project from the Master鈥檚 track Structural Engineering and Design, students can choose to do their research project following one of the research themes of the group FIBRAS: digital fabrication, design of structures, material characterization, structural simulation, reliability assessment, or integration of function. Multidisciplinary projects in collaboration with other units are also welcome.

Research colloquiums

These colloquiums intend to foster connection and collaboration among students and researchers at various levels, providing a platform to exchange ideas, discuss ongoing research, raise questions, and explore potential solutions to develop bio-based fibre composites as a sustainable alternative in the built environment.