Pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (pGFRP) composites provide outstanding properties for composite polymer cross arms in power transmission line applications. This study has investigated the effects of various stacking sequences of fibres directions of pGFRP on flexural strength and creep behaviour. The use of static four-point bending flexural tests revealed that Stacking Sequence 2 (±45/0/90/0/90/0) had a significant flexural strength of 399.9 MPa while Stacking Sequence 1 (±45/90/0/±45) had a flexural strength of 242.5 MPa. Furthermore, the four-point bending creep experiments were performed at three distinct stress levels, notably 12%, 24%, and 37% of the ultimate flexural strength, to characterise the creep behaviour of distinct stacking sequences. Moreover, Findley’s power law equation for bending creep behaviour has revealed that the time-dependent reduction factor of Stacking Sequence 1 and Stacking Sequence 2 estimates a drop in flexural modulus of 23% and 10% respectively.

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In the era of globalisation, decreasing synthetic resources, especially petroleum, have encouraged global communities to apply biomass waste as a substitute material for green technology development. The development of plastic products from lignocellulosic fibre-reinforced composites has been a hot topic among material scientists and engineers due to their abundance, sustainable in nature, and less toxic towards health. For the Malaysian scenario, sugar palm is a plant found in the wild and locally planted in certain areas in Malaysia and Indonesia. Generally, sugar palm can be harvested for traditional foods, fruits, starch sugar (gula kabung), and alcohol, whereas sugar palm fibre (SPF) is used in conventional products (brushes and brooms). Various researchers are working on the characterisation of fibre and its composites for engineering and packaging products. The main drawback of SPF is its hydrophilic behaviour, which leads to high moisture uptake and inhibits a good bond between the fibre and the matrix. Thus, a solution for this problem is by implementing chemical treatments on the fibre. From the literature review, no comprehensive review paper has been published on the influence of chemical treatment on the mechanical behaviour of SPF-reinforced polymer composites. Thus, the present review examines recent studies on the mechanical properties of sugar palm lignocellulosic fibres with various chemical treatments to evaluate their potential in structural applications.

Automation in Civil Engineering design is no longer unfamiliar anymore in the construction industry. It brings great efficiency gains and has reduced many of the complicated aspects of design. Automation has been developing since over the last four decades where advancement of computer hardware and in line with software developments has enabled various sort of design to be computerized. The design process is now more fast and accurate, and the entire process has been outstandingly improved by the available technology. However, the problems related to computerized design, started from the possibilities for unrecognized or unanticipated consequences as the design becomes more complicated. In line with it is the global warming issue that has been threatening the human being. Therefore, this paper reviews the design automation and its application in civil engineering design emphasizing in assessing the energy efficiency of buildings, which includes background information, its application, advantages, and challenges and also suggestions to further improve the automation in civil engineering design by artificial intelligence (AI). It was discovered that since over the past few years, BIM implementation in Civil Engineering design has started to be adopted massively in construction industry due to its tremendous advantages. In this paper, a new flow process in design automation in assessing building sustainability has been proposed by implementing AI BIM which is linked with MyCREST, a green rating tool in Malaysia in order to assist designers to conceptually design for a more energy efficient building.