Biography

Education

• BSc (Engineering Science) University of Durham, 1979
• PhD University of Durham, 1984
• DSc University of Warwick, 2007

Professional Affiliations

• Chartered Structural Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE, UK). Retired membership.
• Member (Warwick University) of Composites UK's Construction Sector Group
• Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy

External interests

• Member of Leamington and Warwick Philatelic Society (LWPS)
• Member of Midland (GB) Postal History Society (M(GB)PHS)
• Member of the Great Britain Philatelic Society (GBPS)

Awards

• IStructE 2011 Service Award: 'For your much valued and extensive support to the Midland Counties Branch over a period of many years'.
• 2022 ASCE Outstanding Reviewer - In recognition of outstanding service as a reviewer for the ASCE Journal of Composites for Construction.

Research Interests

• Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures.
• Application of physical testing, non-destructive evaluation and numerical simulation to understanding the structural integrity and durability of structural systems.
• Preparation of recommeneded design procedures for national/international design standards for civil engineering works. (Impact Case Study for REF 2021: Influencing Policy and Practice of Fibre-Polymer Composites in Civil Engineering in US and Europe and REF 2021 Impact Case Study Database)

Civil Engineering Technicians (CET) Intranet with photographs showing the diversity of our structural engineering projects.

Teaching Interests

• Current: Second year MEng/BEng - ES2C9 Forensic Engineering (15 Credits)

• Previous: Second year MEng/BEng - ES2C3 Civil Engineering Materials & Structural Analysis - construction materials (15 Credits) (to 2022-23)
• Previous: Fourth year MEng - ES4F4 Advanced Structural Engineering - Part 1. Fibre Reinforced Polymers for New Build (15 Credits) (to 2022-23)
• Out-of-print book "Using Finite Elements in Mechanical Design", by J. T. Mottram and C. T. Shaw. Published by McGraw-Hill in 1996.

Selected Publications

Toby's Full List of Publications with active links (Word document)

Toby's Full List of Publications without active links (pdf document)

Technical Specification towards a new structural Eurocode part:

PD CEN/TS 19101:2022. 'Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures,' British Standard Institution, London, 2023. ISBN 978 0 539 13572 5 Chair of B/525/-/04 that is responsible for the UK’s National Standard Body version.

Open Access journal publications, with links, are:

1. B. Zafari, J. T. MOTTRAM, P. Purnell, S. A. Grammatikos and M. C. Evernden, Hygrothermal aging of a pultruded fiber-polymer composite with predictions for design service lives,' Journal of Composites for Construction, 29 1, 2025.
2. Poulton, W. M. Sebastian and J. T. MOTTRAM, ‘DIC study of strain concentrations and damage within web-flange junctions of pultruded GFRP bridge decking,’ Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 179, 2024, Art. No: 108011. 10.1016/compositesa.2024.108011
3. E. Olsson, J. T. MOTTRAM, S. R. Atashipour, M. Al-Emrani, and R. Haghani, ‘Development of a unified design buckling curve for fibre reinforced polymer plates subjected to in-plane uniaxial and uniform compression,’ Thin-Walled Structures, 183, 2023, Art: No. 110346. 10.1016/j.tws.2022.110346
4. Z. Al-Nabulsi, J. T. MOTTRAM, M. Gillie, N. Kourra and M. A. Williams, ‘Mechanical and X ray Computed Tomography Characterisation of a WAAM 3D printed steel plate for structural engineering applications,’ Construction and Building Materials, 274, 2021, pp. 13. doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.121700

5. J. T. MOTTRAM and J. Henderson (Eds.), 'FRP Bridges - Guidance for Designers', prepared by Composites UK: Construction Sector Group, CIRIA C779, London, 2018. ISBN 978-0-86017-794-4 (As of 1 February 2024 publisher CIRIA is charging £25 as a handling charge.)

6. J. Qureshi, J. T. MOTTRAM and B. Zafari, 'Robustness of simple joints in pultruded frames,’ Structures, 3, 2015, 120-129. org/10.1016/j.istruc.2015.03.007
7. S. A. Grammatikos, B. Zafari, M. C. Evernden, J. T. MOTTRAM and J. M. Mitchels, ‘Moisture uptake characteristics of a pultruded flat sheet fibre reinforced polymer material subjected to hot/wet aging,’ Polymer Degradation and Stability, 121, (2015), 407–419. doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2015.10.001
8. S. A. Grammatikos, M. Evernden, J. Mitchels, B. Zafari, J. T. MOTTRAM and G. C. Papanicolaou, ‘On the response to hygrothermal aging of pultruded FRPs used in the civil engineering sector,’ Materials and Design, 96, (2016), 283-295. doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2016.02.026
9. B. Zafari, J. Qureshi, J. T. MOTTRAM and R. Rusev, 'Static and fatigue performance of resin injected bolts for a slip and fatigue resistant connection in FRP bridge engineering,' Structures, 7, (2016), 71-84. 10.1016/j.istruc.2016.05.004
10. N. S. Matharu and J. T. Mottram, ‘Plain and threaded bearing strength for the design of bolted connections with pultruded FRP material,’ Engineering Structures, 152, (2017), 878-887. 10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.10.003

Commenatary to DSc thesis (2007) that delevlops my research in context of its contribution to engineering knowledge and scientific understanding.

Key Projects and Grants

• Phase 3 - WG4.T2 Design of Fibre-Polymers Composite Structures– Preparation of CEN Technical Specification(drafting towards a structural Eurocode for fibre reinforced polymer materials). Prof. J. Toby Mottram. Sponsor/type: EU/ Grant Agreement SA/CEN/GROW/EFTA/515/2017-08. 01 July 2018 to 30 June 2021. €15,750

• ENHANCE - ENabling Humanitarian Attributes for Nurturing Community-based Engineering. Prof. Georgia Kremmyda (Principal Investigator), Prof. J. Toby Mottram, Dr Volkan Degirmenci, Dr Nicholas Monk and Prof. Gwen van der Velden (Warwick). Erasmus+ (EU) Call for Proposals 2018 – EAC/A05/2017. EU Partner in Greece and Asian partners are Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. Start date: 15 November 2018 – 36 months - 30 May 2023. Appl. Ref. 598502-EPP-1-2018-1-UK-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP. €988,705

• Characterising dynamic performance of fibre reinforced polymer structures for resilience and sustainability, (Project's Web-pages) Warwick academic team is Stana Zivanovic (PI) and Toby Mottram (Co-I). EP/M21505/1 from 01/10/2015 to 30/09/2018 (36 months) £721k, with industrial and university support from Larkfleet Homes, Network Rail, Optima Projects Ltd., Sinclair Knight Merz(Europe) Ltd. (Jacobs), Swiss Federal Laboratories of Material Science and Technology EMPA, The University Iuav (Venice), and University of Exeter. Link to Publications from this project.

• DURACOMP project web pages - Providing Confidence in Durable Composites (DURACOMP), (EPSRC project web page) Multi-university project funded by the 2012 Ground and Structural Engineering Call. Project Team is Toby Mottram (PI), Mark Evernden (Bath), Wendel Sebastian (Bristol), Chris Pearce & Lukasz Kaczmarczyk (Glasgow), Phil Purnell (Leeds) and Peter Gosling & Chris Kilsby (Newcastle). EP/K026925/1 from 01/05/2013 to 04/08/2016. £1.4m, with industrial support from Aquamarine Power Ltd., Formax UK Ltd., Highways Agency and Parsons Brinckerhoff. SUMMARY: Composite materials are at the heart of a fundamental evolution in aerospace and automotive design, offering light-weight responses to the low-carbon agenda. The transformative potential of composites for infrastructure – driven by their extraordinary strength- and stiffness-to-weight ratios – is as an enabling technology in three arenas key to the installation of a resilient, adaptable, low-carbon UK infrastructure: development of advanced low-carbon generation capacity (e.g. wind, wave or tidal turbines); adaptation of existing structural components for amended or extended service (e.g. bridge repair); and realisation of radical structural forms (e.g. load-bearing shells). The main hurdle that composites must overcome is concern over their durability in a 50+ year infrastructure environment. The DURACOMP project will address this by leapfrogging the conservative assumptions used in aerospace and automotive design and developing a stochastic modelling framework specifically for infrastructure composites. This will involve a three-pronged, approach based on: physical testing of structural connections and joints, and materials; computational modelling of multi-scale structures; and probability analysis of properties, loads and environmental (climate change) factors. The multi-university DURACOMP team will deliver the basis of a new paradigm for specification of composite solutions in Ground and Structural Engineering, driven by the need to prepare the UK’s infrastructure for an uncertain future.

• Collaborating with Dr. Ana M. Girão Coelho, now with Steel Construction Institute. Ana was a Marie Curie European Intra-Fellow at Warwick University from 01/08/13 to 31/07/15, working on the project PFRPStruJoin - Structural Joints for Building Frames of Pultruded Fibre Reinforced Polymers. Aim of PFRPStruJoin was to conduct advanced and relevant research for the preparation of scientifically founded design rules for mechanically fastened joints in building frames of pultruded Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials. By using Advanced computational analysis (Abaqus) she simulated the initiation and grow of key distinct modes of failure that determine the structural response in bolted joints.
• Connections and Joints for Buildings and Bridges of Fibre Reinforced Polymer, Toby Mottram (PI), Standard Research, EP/H042628/1, EPSRC, 01/10/2010 for 42 months, £522k, with industrial support from Mott MacDonald Bridge Engineering Group and Access Design and Engineering (fabricators).

• Standard for Load Resistance Factor design (LRFD) of Pultruded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Structures, Toby. Mottram (PI), Sub-agreement with University of Wisconsin-Madison, 01/01/2008 for 33 month, $60k (to Warwick), from total of $1.3m from the American Composites Manufacturers Association. Pre-standard complete in November 2010.

• Startlink Lightweight Building System, Toby Mottram (local PI) with EXEL Composites (project PI), and six industrial partners (Startlink Ltd., John Hutchinson Architect, Larkfleet Homes, OCS Plastics, Optima Projects Ltd. and Costain), Technology Strategy Board (Low Impact Building Competition of Summer 2008), 01/01/2009 for 36 months, £80k from total funding of £1.3m.

School Administration

• Former Deputy Head of School of Engineering (from 01/09/17-31/08/22)
• Former Discipline Stream Leader for Civil Engineering in School of Engineering (from 01/06/11-01/02/22)

Literature database on
R&D with Pultruded Fibre Reinforced Polymer shapes and systems

Updated on the first of the month

Approaching 3300 entries.

Publication Database as a Word document for access to interenet links

Publication Database as a pdf document, not providing access to internet links

Details of publications not in the database are always welcomed: e-mail them to J.T.Mottram@warwick.ac.uk)