Fiber Reinforced Concrete Composites - Seminal Contributions of Surendra Shah

The authors review the scholarly contributions of Surendra P. Shah during a prolific six-decade academic career in fiber reinforced concrete composites. This compilation includes discussions on often cited seminal publications encompassing experimental mechanics, analytical modeling, the development of test standards, materials characterization and innovations in the science of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) materials. Collectively, these contributions have greatly improved our insights on how the nano- and micro-mechanics of such composites and processing techniques affect the macroscopic performance of creatively engineered reinforced cement composites. Starting with his Ph.D. the first contribution to understanding the inelastic behavior and fracture of concrete, the early fracture mechanics applications to FRC, his push to introduce energy dissipation and toughness via ACI 544 (new concepts at the time), his seminal theoretical and experimental contributions in the specialty during the last six decades, including macro fibers, hybrid fibers and the more recent nanofiber reinforced systems.