Projects -

international

Leader of the Innovation

Committee of the COST

Action TU1402

(2014-2019) Structural   Health   Monitoring   is   good.   But   it   can   be   much   better.   We build     upon     decades     of     Structural     Health     Monitoring     (SHM), structural   risk   and   reliability   research   and   development   grown   into a   comprehensive   research   community   and   an   important   part   of today’s    infrastructure    engineering.    Our    network    incorporates    a tremendous     knowledge     about     SHM     technologies,     SHM     data analysis,    structural    performance    and    deterioration    as    well    as infrastructure operation. We   want   to   enhance   the   benefit   of   SHM   by   novel   utilization   of applied   decision   analysis   on   how   to   assess   the   value   of   SHM   –   even before   it   is   implemented.   We   know   already   that   the   value   of   SHM can   be   tremendous.   We   just   have   to   quantify   it.   Knowing   the   value of   SHM,   we   can   improve   the   decision   basis   for   design,   operation and    life-cycle    integrity    management    of    structures    and    facilitate more   cost   efficient,   reliable   and   safe   strategies   for   maintaining   and developing the built environment to the benefit of society. Acting    as    the    leader    of    the    Innovation    Committee    of    this    COST Action,     I     am     having     promoting     an     event     so-called     Industry Innovation   Days,   which   aims   to   establish   and/or   strengthen   the communication      along      this      supply      chain,      i.e.      from      the Academic/Manufacture   levels   to   the   Owner/Government   levels.   A showcase   composed   by   real   applications,   with   clear   evidence   of maturity   degree   (TRL   4   and/or   above),   supports   this   event   in   order to show the Value of SHM Information. More         info         can         be         found         here:         http://www.cost- tu1402.eu/Action/Innovation-Committee

LostPreCon (individual

H2020-MSCA-IF)

Long-term structural performance of

pre-stressed concrete bridges: A risk-

based monitoring informed framework

for life-cycle asset management

(2015-2017) Recently,   the   re-assessment   of   the   collapse   of   the   Koror-Babeldaob Bridge    (in    1996),    a    pre-stressed    bridge    built    by    the    cantilever method,   concluded   that   this   was   due   to   excessive   deflections   that appeared    and    grew    non-linearly    some    years    after    construction. Interestingly,   similar   trends   have   been   found   for   a   group   of   56 similar   bridge   spans,   raising   the   question   whether   such   concerns could   influence   the   maintenance   and   service   life   of   a   high   number of   pre-stressed   bridges   in   Europe   and   beyond.   Although   individual material   and   structural   factors   have   been   researched,   this   problem can   only   be   solved   by   integrating   physical   and   probabilistic   models and   benefiting   from   the   increasing   use   of   monitoring   data.   In   this context, this project aimed to: • Review   existing   models   for   shrinkage   and   creep   at   specimen level, • Establish    robust    hybrid    FE    models    for    medium/long-term predictions, • Develop   a   novel   monitoring   approach   based   on   Digital   Image Correlation (DIC), • Formulate       a       time-dependent       reliability       assessment framework, addressing creep and shrinkage uncertainties, • Produce    representative    performance-time    profiles    for    pre- stressed    bridges    based    on    the    proposed    framework    and models. The   above   has   been   demonstrated   via   a   case   study   –   the   Lezíria Bridge   –   possessing   a   unique   combination   of   factors:   (i)   available monitoring    data,    (ii)    pre-existing    analysis    models    and    (iii)    an intimate    knowledge    by    Dr.    Helder    Sousa,    the    researcher,    of    its construction   and   behaviour.   The   findings   are   directly   relevant   to the   growing   number   of   bridges   with   this   problem,   enhancing   the European      knowledge      and      competitiveness      in      the      global infrastructure   market.   For   this,   an   inter-disciplinary   research   and training   programme   has   been   set   out,   building   on   the   researcher’s strong   track   record,   expanding/honing   his   knowledge/skills,   so   that he   can   reach   the   forefront   of   highly   qualified   professionals   able   to solve   problems   in   a   creative/integrative   manner   and   contribute   to European expertise and wealth creation. More info can be found here: http://www.lostprecon.eu/index.htm

MAINLINE (FP7-

TRANSPORT)

MAINtenance, renewaL and

Improvement of rail transport

iNfrastructure to reduce Economic and

environmental impacts

(2014) Growth in demand for rail transportation across Europe is predicted to continue. Much of this growth will have to be accommodated on existing lines that contain old infrastructure. This demand will increase both the rate of deterioration of these elderly assets and the need for shorter line closures for maintenance or renewal interventions. However, interventions on elderly infrastructure will also need to take account of the need for lower economic and environmental impacts. This means that new interventions will need to be developed. In addition tools will need to be developed to inform decision makers about the economic and environmental consequences of different intervention options being considered. MAINLINE proposed to address all these issues through a series of linked work packages that will target at least €300m per year savings across Europe with a reduced environmental footprint in terms of embodied carbon and other environmental benefits. More info can be found here: http://mainline-project.eu/

SmartEN (FP7-PEOPLE)

Smart Management for Sustainable Human Environment

(2013) Recently, a new generation of miniature wireless sensor platforms which utilize novel digital signal processing has emerged. These can be adopted to obtain large quantities of highly diverse sensor data that are continuously collected over a long period of time from multiple locations providing significant insight on the condition, demands and performance of the system. These developments open up a completely novel area of multidisciplinary research towards the ‘smart’ management of sustainable environment. Even though there are top research institutions working in the field of wireless sensors and others in the civil infrastructure reliability and management, most of the activity is fragmented and there is no significant activity in performing multidisciplinary structured research for developing integrated smart and dynamic systems for effective management of the built and natural environment. The aim of SmartEN is to fill this gap and push innovation through the development of an ITN network that will focus on the development and effective integration of emerging technologies targeting key application areas of current interest to the European Commission and internationally. Among 19 top ranked researchers, I have been involved as an Experienced Researcher. More info can be found here: http://www.smarten- itn.eu/researchers.html