ESR12 Bridge damage detection using an instrumented vehicle.: Conference Experience 1: ISHMII Belfast

Belfast conference in Queen’s University was my first experience in this kind of meeting. The conference was held on the 26th and 27th of May, covering several areas of the Structural Engineering:

· ‘Sensors and Structural Health Monitoring Systems’,

· ‘Structural Health Monitoring Strategies for Bridge Structures’,

· ‘Geotechnical Monitoring for Civil Engineering infrastructure’ and

· ‘Challenges in Practical Application of SHM Systems’.

In each of these sessions, eight presentations were included in addition to the keynote one. Our TRUSS paper titled “Instantaneous Curvature in Bridge Damage Detection” presented by my supervisor, Prof. Eugene O’Brien, was the keynote lecture for the ‘Challenges in Practical Application of SHM Systems’ session.

Figure 1. Prof. Eugene O'Brien presenting keynote lecture.

The paper consisted of using bridge curvatures calculated from the deflection and based on these curvatures, analysing several damage situations with and without considering noise or road profile. Three points are needed to calculate curvature and a number of definitions of curvature is possible. Instantaneous Curvature (IC) takes into account several positions of the bridge for a fixed location of the force. Moving Reference Curvature (MRC) combines different positions of the force and locations in the bridge. IC doesn’t hinder the damage effect in curvature and allows its localisation. Using IC, we are able to obtain good results, when we are not considering noise, but when we do, even applying a simple denoise method based in repetition of the measurements, does not work properly.

Other TRUSS mates also attended the event: Farhad (ESR7), JJ (ESR10) and Antonio (ESR11). Farhad contributed with another TRUSS paper to the workshop. My project mates and also PhD students in UCD, Paul Fitzgerald and Alexandra Micu, together with the postdoc Enrique Sevillano also enjoyed the conference. We all felt that we had great fun and gathered a very valuable networking experience.