Civil infrastructures are the basis of socio-economic wealth for modern societies and concrete is the most used material in volume in the world. However, a series of limitations hamper innovative solutions in the asset management of infrastructures. One of the most prevalent issues that directly influences the life expectancy of concrete structures, is fatigue. Although fatigue has been investigated for years for steel structures, recent findings suggest that concrete structures are also significantly subjected to fatigue that could lead to failure. A second issue relates to the current technological means to measure fatigue on structures like bridges and wind turbines, as these are outdated, imprecise and inappropriate. Finally, while structural reliability methods have been widely applied in some industrial applications, e.g. offshore oil and gas structures, practical application of probabilistic methods still needs theoretical and practical developments.
INFRASTAR aims to develop knowledge, expertise and skills for optimal and reliable management of structures. The generic methodology is applied to bridges and wind turbines in relation to fatigue, offering the opportunity to deal with complementary notions while addressing three major challenges: 1) advanced modelling of concrete fatigue behaviour; 2) new non-destructive testing methods for early aged damage detection; and 3) probabilistic approach of structure reliability under fatigue.
The project provided comprehensive work on innovative sensing techniques and a better connection to damage indicators (data fusion). Refined models and methods of the loading and behaviour of structural members have been elaborated. The potential cost- and material savings using reliability- and risk-based methods for existing structures demonstrated in the case studies will contribute to decreasing the Levelized Cost Of Energy in wind energy and to increased sustainability.
