Objective
Objectives and content
The deterioration of larger structures over time is a
major problem in terms of safety and maintenance costs.
The degradation is essentially statistical and current
methods are largely based on visual inspection and
instrumentation using discrete strain sensors. There is
a major requirement in civil engineering applications for
multiplexed/distributed strain measurement systems for
the on-line monitoring of structural integrity as part of
a condition maintenance programme to replace the current
methods. The requirement stems from the need for
improved knowledge of the integrity of new, existing and
in particular ageing large civil engineering structures
such as, bridges, tunnels, off-shore structures, dams and
buildings as they are subjected to increasing loading
demands and unusual stresses introduced by environmental
conditions (earthquakes, high winds, floods, ice etc.).
Currently, the ability to extensively monitor large
structures is severely limited by the available strain
sensing techniques such as resistive gauges since they
are time consuming to introduce, require a large amount
of electrical inter-connections, corrode readily with
have short working lifetimes and are difficult to implant
during the construction process.
The primary objective of this project is to develop and
demonstrate an on-line strain measurement system with the
capability of meeting the required specification for life
prediction and maintenance control of large civil
engineering structures surviving for the lifetime of the
structure for up to 100 year. The base technology for
the instrumentation is optical fibre distributed sensing,
which when compared with alternative candidate
technologies, offers the optimum solution to meet the
required specification. Several key areas and associated
targets for the project have been identified:
Development of opto-electronic processing
instrumentation based on optical fibre strain sensors to
measure point strain and long-gauge integrated strain at
and between multiple sensing points along an optical
fibre highway to measure strain concentrations and
gradients;
Development and engineering of a new class of
ruggedised, low profile, packaged, temperature
compensated, quasi-distributed Bragg grating strain
transducers for Civil Engineering use, optimised for
efficient strain transfer;
Development of composite embedding and surface
attachment techniques for concrete/metal structures,
including the development of a 'smart' composite sensing
cable with long survival times in high alkaline
(concrete) environments,
Development of software packages to
interface/interpretation of strain information to lifeprediction modelling;
Evaluation and characterisation of embedding sensor
system in concrete laboratory test structures
Demonstration and evaluation of the system on a
floating bridge and comparison with data from existing
conventional instrumentation on the structure.
The workpackages are designed to develop each of the
elements leading to a field trial on an operational 1km
sea bridge, currently instrumented with a variety of
conventional sensors. The project team from five EU
states, including a group of five SME's, collectively
have the expertise to address the multi-faceted issues
posed by the technical objectives. The work has been
designed to be complimentary to other on-going BRITE
projects, achieved through the inclusion of some common
partners with some of these projects. Work from
completed BRITE projects is also being inputted to this
project.
This proposal is a re-submission of a previous proposal
of the same title (graded A2, BRITE-96 3630) with
amendments based on the evaluators' recommendations and
suggestions. Optical fibre sensing instrumentation has
proved to be an attractive technology for monitoring the
integrity of a range of structures. Application to large
civil engineering structures would provide improved
safety and maintenance scheduling with associated costs
and safety benefits. The range of possible applications
within civil engineering is large and MILLENNIUM has
focused toward bridges for verification of the proposed
techniques.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- engineering and technology civil engineering
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geology seismology
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- natural sciences physical sciences optics fibre optics
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
CR9 6DA Croydon
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.