PDEng Kic assessing infra monitoring systems at the University of Twente

Maintenance has always been an indivisible part of infrastructures (such as bridges, roads, canals, etc.). Nevertheless, this has become more of an issue over the past decade. Shrinking budgets – in the wake of the credit crunch - rendered infrastructure owners (IOs) to become more selective/conscious/cautious in their maintenance undertakings. Therefore, the IOs have started to take inventory of their assets with the intention to better assess the condition of assets. They started to build extensive databases to make better-informed maintenance decisions. Limited budgets pushed the development of Risk-Oriented Asset Management approaches. Key in the risk assessment is the prediction of the remaining life span of the assets. Such predictions require data about the assets' condition and behavior. As a result, several structural health monitoring initiatives have emerged. These initiatives are committed to using sensor and sensor systems for the measurement, monitoring, and tracking of the behaviors, and changes thereof, of assets.

This quest coincides with the rapid progress and development in sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, and pervasive systems. Since 2014, a number of pilots, trials, and experiments with the sensor-based monitoring systems for infrastructures have emerged. Sensor networks are integrated into, among others, bridges, roads, dikes, viaducts, and doors of locks.

Currently, there is a trend in making the sensor networks an integral part of the design of new infrastructures. The industry expects such sensor/monitoring systems to become a common integral feature of the future (smart) infrastructure design/management. We can already see a growing variety of these systems and the rising number of suppliers. The industry senses an opportunity to leverage this booming technology/market.

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PDEng Kic assessing infra monitoring systems at the University of Twente