QuakeWrap - Company History

COMPANY HISTORY

The following summary provides a look at some of the events and activities of Professor M. Ehsani that led to the formation and growth of QuakeWrap, Inc. as a leading FRP Design & Installation organization:

2007	Received Award of Merit from the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) for retrofit of the Historic Fox Theatre in Tucson, Arizona.
2006	Received Award of Excellence in Structural Engineering from the Structural Engineers Association of Arizona for the retrofit of the Historic Fox Theatre in Tucson. Received Award of Excellence in Structural Strengthening from the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) for the seismic retrofit of McKinley Tower in Anchorage, Alaska.
2005	QuakeWrap's innovative products and methods were highlighted in a History Channel's documentary that was aired in March 2005.
2004	Received Award of Excellence in Retrofit from the Structural Engineers Association of Arizona for retrofit of Coolidge High School Gymnasium.
2003	Renamed the company to QuakeWrap, Inc. and obtained contractors' licenses in Arizona and California; started to offer complete "turnkey" solutions including design, materials, and installation.
2002	Co-chaired the Third International Conference on Composites in Infrastructure (ICCI ’02)(with support from NSF), San Francisco, CA, July 2002
1998	Co-chaired the Second International Conference on Composites in Infrastructure (ICCI ’98)(with support from NSF), Tucson, AZ January 1998
1997	Received U.S. Patent #5,640,825, "Methods of Strengthening Masonry and Concrete Walls with Composite Straps and High-Strength Random Fibers."
1996	Chaired an ACI subcommittee and was the primary author for the ACI-440 State-of-the-Art Report on Fiber Reinforced Plastic Reinforcement for Concrete Structures (ACI 440R-96). Co-founded and co-chaired the First International Conference on Composites in Infrastructure (ICCI ’96)(with support from NSF), Tucson, AZ January 1996
1994	Incorporated Structural Rehabilitation Group (that was subsequently renamed to QuakeWrap, Inc. in 2003). QuakeWrap™ products were successfully used to strengthen two buildings in southern California.
1992	Was awarded a $35,000 grant (followed by another $75,000 grant) from the National Science Foundation (the first award given by the NSF on this new concept) to study "Strengthening of Unreinforced Masonry Walls with Fiber Composites," NSF Grant No. BCS-9201110, 1992-93.
1991	Was awarded a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (the first award given by the NSF on this new concept) to study "Strengthening of Concrete Columns with Fiber Composites," NSF Grant No. MSS-9022667, 1991-94.
1989	Invented the concept of strengthening Concrete Columns with FRPs and presented it to California Department of Transportation for research funding; the idea was inadvertently leaked to Edward Fyfe (as reported in an Engineering News Report (ENR) article). Engineer says agency leaked idea, ENR, 8/9/1990.
1987	Pioneered R&D on strengthening Concrete Beams with FRPs & wrote the first technical paper on this innovative approach that was published by ACI in 1990: "Fiber Composite Plates Can Strengthen Beams," Concrete International, 12(3)65-71.