The Way Forward for Indirect Structural Health Monitoring (iSHM) Using Connected and Automated Vehicles in Europe

Smartphone Prospects in Bridge Structural Health Monitoring, a Literature Review

Bridges are critical components of transportation networks, and their conditions have effects on societal well-being, the economy, and the environment. Automation needs in inspections and maintenance have made structural health monitoring (SHM) systems a key research pillar to assess bridge safety/health. The last decade brought a boom in innovative bridge SHM applications with the rise in next-generation smart and mobile technologies. A key advancement within this direction is smartphones with their sensory usage as SHM devices. This focused review reports recent advances in bridge SHM backed by smartphone sensor technologies and provides case studies on bridge SHM applications. The review includes model-based and data-driven SHM prospects utilizing smartphones as the sensing and acquisition portal and conveys three distinct messages in terms of the technological domain and level of mobility: (i) vibration-based dynamic identification and damage-detection approaches; (ii) deformation and condition monitoring empowered by computer vision-based measurement capabilities; (iii) drive-by or pedestrianized bridge monitoring approaches, and miscellaneous SHM applications with unconventional/emerging technological features and new research domains. The review is intended to bring together bridge engineering, SHM, and sensor technology audiences with decade-long multidisciplinary experience observed within the smartphone-based SHM theme and presents exemplary cases referring to a variety of levels of mobility.

The Growing Infrastructure Crisis: The Challenge of Scour Risk Assessment and the Development of a New Sensing System

Scour action is one of the main factors that add significant stress to the growing infrastructure crisis as it is considered one of the most destructive flood-related hazards occurring around underwater foundation elements. Recent cases of bridge failures have highlighted the need for a reliable scour monitoring and early warning system to assess flood and geo-hazards in real-time, providing advanced key info for repair and maintenance actions. Despite the past efforts to provide such a system for scour assessment, most of the developed instruments were not able to offer a reliable solution for scour monitoring, due to technical and cost issues. As a result, there currently exists a gap in the knowledge and understanding of scour mechanism during flood incidents. This study presents the development of a new sensing system to assess hydro-hazards at bridge infrastructure. It initially focuses on factors contributing to the growing infrastructure crisis and provides an overview of the current practices and assessment procedures to assess scour processes and a summary of advantages and limitations of existing monitoring efforts. A new monitoring concept for assessing scour and sediment deposition processes is then presented focusing on modelling the geometric components of a new sensor which is evaluated in simulations under different environments that represent prospective field conditions. Main results are analysed and presented focusing on key criteria that maximize sensitivity of the sensor to scour and sedimentation processes. The obtained results indicate that the sensor has the potential to provide a new monitoring device for scour and sediment deposition monitoring, and it is proposed to be further developed and assessed in laboratory and field conditions. This study aspires to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the use of sensing techniques to monitor, assess, and manage scour action effectively.

Research and Innovation Supporting the European Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy: A Technology Perspective from Recent European Union Projects

Many concepts and innovations aim to improve transport and mobility, while helping to decrease the externalities that transport imposes on society. Research and innovation monitoring tools are important to assess the current state of development so that research funding and policy making efforts can be aligned optimally. This paper presents a comprehensive approach which links technological developments in the transport sector in Europe to the objectives of the most recent policy developments, in particular, the 2020 European Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. It does so by identifying and evaluating technologies from European Union-funded projects between 2007 and 2020, by means of a technology taxonomy. Information is provided at an aggregated level on funding characteristics of both projects and the technologies, while at the same time, the level of maturity of researched technologies in the most recent projects is identified. This study can aid policy makers to support the future development of transport technologies as part of pertinent policy strategies and identify research gaps.