Abstract

Abstract: One of the greatest challenges facing civil engineers in the 21st century is the stewardship of ageing civil engineering infrastructure. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their underground networks in the major cities around the world. Much of them were constructed more than half a century ago and there is widespread evidence of deterioration of this old infrastructure.

The critical deterioration of civil infrastructure has driven the search for new methods of rehabilitation and repair by incorporating sensors and developing remote systems that would allow monitoring and diagnosis of possible problems occurring. Advances in the development of fibre optics, computer vision and micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS) offer intriguing possibilities that can radically alter the paradigms underlying existing methods of condition assessment and monitoring.

Future monitoring systems will undoubtedly comprise Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and will be designed around the capabilities of autonomous nodes. Each node in the network will integrate specific sensing capabilities with communication, data processing and power supply. The talk will present some of recent research at Cambridge in the area of innovative monitoring technologies.

Speaker: Kenichi Soga is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He teaches and conducts research in the area of geotechnical engineering, environmental geotechnics and innovative monitoring techniques, including wireless sensor networks. He is a Fellow of Churchill College since 1995 and acts as a Director of Studies in Engineering.