This course was coordinated & conducted by Prof. Asim Tiwari on 16th & 17th November 2021 & participants from five PSUs were enrolled in this course. This is an introductory level training course & brief introduction about the course is as follows:
Fiber-reinforced plastic composites are revolutionizing industrial growth like never before by providing outstanding strength and stiffness combined with lightweight and long life. Apart from the attractive properties of strength and stiffness, fiber composites have a unique attribute of anisotropic properties. This unique attribute makes them a highly desirable material for applications like pressure vessels and pipes. The geometry of pressure vessels and pipes makes them have higher stresses in the hoop direction than the axial direction. Due to this inherent stressed distribution, all pressure vessels and pipes designed from metallic alloys are over-designed in the axial direction. However, this very inherent asymmetry in the stress distribution of pressure vessels and pipes works for the advantage of fiber-reinforced composites. Over and above the advantage due to mechanical properties, the fiber-reinforced plastic composites exhibit excellent corrosion resistance. Accelerated life estimation studies suggest that fiber-reinforced plastic composite pipes could have a life of over 150 years. All these properties have led to a rapid rise in the use of fiber composites for pressure vessels and pipes. The FRP market of pipes is estimated to be over 2 billion USD, with an annual growth of over 8%.