Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction Annual Review 2016

Implementinginnovation

Annual Review 2016

Cambridge Centre forSmart Infrastructure& Construction

Innovation when ideas generate economic value in the form ofnew and improved products and services

Smart infrastructure when physical and digital infrastructure converge

Optical fibre fusion splicer being operated inthe CSIC lab

CSIC www.centreforsmartinfrastructure.com Annual Review 2016 1

ContentsExecutive updates

Introduction from Professor Lord Mair, Head of CSIC 3About CSIC 5Industry update from John Pelton, Crossrail 7

Implementing innovationNew from CSIC 8Cities and infrastructure systems research overview 11Asset management research overview 13Data analytics and interpretation research overview 15Sensor development and data collection research overview 17Case studies 18Outreach and events 30

Our peopleCSIC Phase One academics and staff 32

Looking aheadPhase Two update from the CSIC Director 36Introducing CSIC Phase Two academics 37International Conference on Smart Infrastructure and 39Construction 2016 UK Collaboratorium on Research in Infrastructure and Cities 40

Steering GroupProfessor John Burland CBE, Imperial College London (Chair)Peter Adams, Highways EnglandDr Keith Bowers, London Underground Volker Buscher, ArupAlan Couzens, Infrastructure and Projects AuthorityTim Embley, CostainTom Foulkes, Independent ConsultantSteve Hornsby, Independent ConsultantProfessor Andrew McNaughton, HS2Adam Locke, Laing O'RourkeDavid Pocock, CH2MRichard Ploszek, Infrastructure and Projects AuthorityStephen Pottle, Transport for LondonDr Scott Steedman CBE, British Standards Institute (BSI)John St Leger, HS2Paul Westbury CBE, Laing O'Rourke

International Advisory Group Professor Tom O’Rourke, Cornell University, USA (Chair)Professor Michael Batty CBE, University College LondonProfessor Yozo Fujino, University of Tokyo, JapanDr W Allen Marr, Geocomp Corporation, USAProfessor Bill Spencer, University of Illinois, USAProfessor Paul Wright, University of California, Berkeley, USAProfessor Hehua Zhu, Tongji University, China

Cover photograph of CSIC technician Jason Shardelow installingmonitoring on a masonry arch by Dr Sinan Açıkgöz

12Awards

won

Cumulative figures from 2011 toApril 2016

£15.2MNon-IKC research

grant funding

££949,000Commercial

incomes

819Papers

published

46Industry Partners

95Site

demonstrations

319Wireless sensors

deployed

27Nationalities

on staff

3Spin-out

companies

H

HH

Executive updates“The UK must continueto be world-leading inengineeringinnovation. We cannotafford to slip behind.The capability andcapacity to innovate isthe key to prosperity inthe 21st century.”

CSIC Research Associates Niamh Gibbonsand Liam Butler

The Cambridge Centre for SmartInfrastructure and Construction (CSIC) istransforming the future of infrastructure andconstruction through smarter informationenabling better decision-making.Developing and deploying emergingtechnologies from world-leading research atthe University of Cambridge, CSICcollaborates with more than 40 IndustryPartners across a wide range of projects toimplement innovation in this crucial sectorof the economy.

There has already been substantial impact ofCSIC’s activities in terms of the wide varietyof new tools and technologies, includingfibre optic strain measurement, UtterBerryultra-low power wireless sensor motes,vibration energy harvesting devices, theCSattAR photogrammetric monitoringsystem, computer vision and datamanagement tools. These can be used incombination to offer a whole-life approachto infrastructure - from design toconstruction, operation, maintenance anddecommissioning - ensuring thatinfrastructure assets provide best valuethroughout their life. These innovations havebeen tested and proved on some of thelargest civil engineering projects in the UK,including Crossrail, National Grid LondonPower Tunnels, London Undergroundstation upgrades, and the StaffordshireAlliance West Coast Mainline railway bridgesfor Network Rail.

Jointly funded by the Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)and Innovate UK, CSIC is a hub for theinfrastructure and construction industry,bringing together leading academics andindustrialists, developing a faster route forinnovation adoption, providing anecosystem for building confidence in newinnovations and enabling their timelyimplementation and exploitation.

Change happens when academia andindustry drive innovation. The digitalrevolution has opened the door for smarterinfrastructure. We have the technology tounderstand exactly how a building, a tunnel,a bridge, or a railway line is actuallyperforming during construction andthroughout its lifetime. This will lead toimproved asset management, as operatorswill know how to prioritise what needs to bereplaced and when, and how to manage itall much more efficiently. Smartinfrastructure also enables more economicdesign, reduced costs and greaterefficiencies, both in the capital cost ofconstruction and in the subsequentoperating costs, delivering benefits tomultiple stakeholders.

Upcoming major infrastructure projects,including Thames Tideway and HS2, areadopting innovation as a driving force, butthere needs to be wider industry take-up forchange to be truly transformative.

Even in these stringent times, investment innew infrastructure, such as Crossrail, andmoney spent on research into newtechnology, is money very well spent. It isvital for our economy to invest in the future;the economy of this country depends onhaving modern, fit-for-purposeinfrastructure.

Engineering impacts all our lives in so manyways. It accounts for at least 20% of grossvalue added (GVA) for the UK economy, andsome estimates are significantly higher.Building a stronger economy relies onengineering innovation and also requiresaddressing the problem of the growingengineering skills crisis. Investment needs tobe underpinned by Government-fundeduniversity research in science andengineering. I welcome the Government’sNational Infrastructure Delivery Plan, whichincludes a £138 million investment in UnitedKingdom Collaboratorium for Research in

Infrastructure and Cities – a consortium ofleading UK universities doing research ininfrastructure and cities, of whichCambridge is a founding member. Thisinvestment will result in substantial benefitsfor industry. Implementing the latestinnovations from such research in itsconstruction and operation will be highlybeneficial for projects such as HS2, as it willbe for other large infrastructure projects.

The world is changing very rapidly and it istherefore vital for the economy to have ahigh level of UK research and development(R&D) investment in science andengineering – the UK must continue to beworld-leading in engineering innovation. We cannot afford to slip behind.

The capability and capacity to innovate isthe key to prosperity in the 21st century.Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agencyand one of CSIC’s funders, funds, supportsand connects innovative businesses toaccelerate sustainable economic growth.Innovate UK’s schemes show substantialleverage, with an average of £6 returned tothe economy in GVA for every £1 invested.

As the case studies in this Annual Reviewshow, CSIC’s ability to demonstrate the valueof smart infrastructure to the constructionindustry, and help facilitate wider industryadoption of innovative technologies andtools, is already proving to be of greatadvantage to the UK engineering base.

Innovation will secure the UK’s futuregrowth. CSIC will continue to focus oncutting edge R&D and integrate theseinnovations to benefit industry and supportthe UK to be leading in the design,development and delivery of smartinfrastructure.

Executive updates Annual Review 2016 3

Professor Lord Mair Head of CSIC Sir Kirby Laing Professor ofCivil Engineering

Innovation brings opportunities to smart infrastructure

CSIC Research Associate Paul Fidler operatinga 3D Laser Scanner in The James DysonBuilding at the University of Cambridge

CSIC brings together world-classengineering research, academic excellenceand commercial industry with the key aim oftransforming infrastructure and achievingsustainability in construction through smartinformation.

Innovation is crucial to delivering smarterinfrastructure for the future. Collaborationand knowledge sharing are vital to this goal,and CSIC currently works with 41 IndustryPartners, including Crossrail, Arup, Toshibaand CERN. CSIC also works with industrybodies including the ConstructionLeadership Council (CLC) and the Institutionof Civil Engineers (ICE) to unite the industryin smart innovation.

CSIC engages with its Industry Partners todevelop commercial technologies, tools fordata analysis, visualisation andmanagement, best practice guidance codesand specifications for scale-up andstandardisation. By working directly withIndustry Partners, CSIC enables the latestinnovations to be adopted quickly into thesupply chain, helping to grow the market forcommercially viable smart infrastructureproducts and services.

These are implemented by industry througha range of activities including deploymenton live sites, industry training, developingsupply chain networks, input to standardsand dissemination.

By collaborating with Industry Partners CSICis able to accelerate the process of bringingtechnologies to commercial readiness. Weaim to deliver value to industry byimproving margins, reducing costs,enhancing returns and extending theproductive life of assets.

There are substantial UK and internationalmarkets for exploitation of these newtechnologies and tools by the constructionand infrastructure industry – particularly forcontractors, consultants, specialistinstrumentation companies and owners of

infrastructure. Working closely with industryenables CSIC to develop technologies andtools that respond effectively to real industrychallenges. CSIC is actively involved withmany of the country’s largest and mostchallenging engineering projects includingCrossrail, National Grid Power Tunnels andthe Northern Line Extension, working toinnovate the future of the infrastructureindustry.

Strategically CSIC focuses on four spatialscales of activity in order to integratedevelopments across these areas and deliverholistic and cohesive solutions to industrychallenges: Cities and infrastructure systems;Asset management; Data analysis andinterpretation; and Sensors and datacollection.

The impact of CSIC’s strategic activities andindustry collaborations, combined with wideapplication of its tools and technologies, willenable major transformations in theapproaches to the design, construction anduse of complex infrastructure.

This impact will lead to step changes ingreater efficiency in design andperformance, a low-carbon society,sustainable urban planning andmanagement, and improved health andproductivity.

CSIC’s work will help the UK become a worldleader in the fields of sensing technology,asset management and smart citydevelopment.

Working with industry is the key to oursuccess and we always welcomeapproaches from industry professionalsseeking to collaborate.


Get in touch with CSICEmail: [email protected]: +44 (0)1223 746 976www.centreforsmartinfrastructure.com

@CSIC-IKC

Transforming the future of infrastructure throughsmarter information

About CSIC

Working with industry toimplement innovation

CSIC PhD Students Chang Ye Gue, Mehdi Alhaddad and Matthew Wilcock on site at Crossrail

“Now is the time for the whole construction and infrastructure industryto get behind the innovation platforms and work together to establishthe UK as the world leader, and to realise the significant benefits thatcan be won for the industry and all its customers.”


The UK’s construction industry, despiteinitiatives such as the Egan and Lathamreviews, is still characterised by a multitudeof different companies operating at differentstages of infrastructure life cycles and thevalue chain. There are many highly capableengineers and other professionals working inthe industry yet investment in innovationand R&D, at around 0.05% of revenue,remains at least two orders of magnitudelower than the manufacturing sector. TheConstruction 2025 strategy throws down thegauntlet to the industry: this situationcannot be allowed to go on if the UK is toremain competitive.

But all is not lost. From a few glimmers onTerminal 5 and elsewhere, the majorprogrammes are now beginning to lead theway in developing a systematic approach toinnovation in construction. Crossraillaunched its highly successful Innovate18innovation programme in 2013 and hasattracted 10% of the entire programme workforce to engage in delivering over 1,000innovations and a range of benefitsincluding tens of millions of pounds in timeand cost savings. Anglian Water has taken adifferent approach through setting achallenging 50% reduction target in theembodied carbon of new assets. TheStaffordshire Alliance has set new standardsfor alliancing and driven innovation into thesupply chain resulting in, for example, someof the first remotely monitored bridges inthe UK. The old myths that innovations weretoo immature to be fielded; that innovationwastes money; that the process causesdisruption; that it is a white elephant thatno-one will want to engage with have allbeen shattered. Even intellectual propertybarriers have fallen to the ‘pinched withpride’ mantra for sharing, with Crossrail’sInnovate18 innovation programmeproviding the engine room for exchangingand building on new ideas as they aredeveloped and introduced across theproject.

CSIC has been at the heart of this revolutionfrom the start. Innovations arising from itsresearch teams and spin-off start-ups arefeatured across the Crossrail programme,enabled through Innovate18, and others areactively taking forward the sensor and dataprocessing technologies. Fibre Bragggratings, MEMS and UtterBerry are becomingcommon terms on major programmes as themanifest benefits of the early stages of smartinfrastructure start to be realised and the fullpower of industry working in collaborationwith academia becomes more evident thanever.

Innovate18 is now spreading its wings intoan industry-wide platform to enable sharingand further innovation across the industry.Increasingly the industry is developing acommon view on priorities for investmentallowing the UK to start taking the lead in aglobal market. Through demonstrating thepotential on UK infrastructure projects, wehave been able to both showcase thetechnologies but also the skills needed toapply them and integrate them into thecomplexity of modern smart infrastructuresolutions. The opportunity is there now:other major programmes are picking up thebaton, specifically Thames Tideway and HS2;academia, such as CSIC, and the Innovate UKCatapult community are also rising to thechallenge. Now is the time for the wholeinfrastructure and construction industry toget behind the innovation platforms andwork together to establish the UK as theworld leader, and to realise the significantbenefits that can be won for the industryand all its customers.

John Pelton, MBEStrategic ProjectsDirector, CrossrailCH2M ProgrammePartner MD

Deep learning: key to thefuture of BIM?

Creating a BIM (Building InformationModelling) model for an existing asset ofany type (buildings, bridges or industrialplants) requires a lengthy process of datacollection and processing, involvingextensive manual intervention andexpensive equipment – the costs outweighthe benefits. CSIC Researcher Dr VioricaPătrăucean has developed a semi-supervised machine learning architecture tohelp create BIM models from videosobtained with consumer cameras, reducingsupervision effort and cost.

The potential of this method is vast, but thetransition from prototype to deployment isstrictly limited by the availability of trainingdata – videos of bridges and laser-scanningpoint clouds to facilitate the data labelling.CSIC will be collaborating with nationalagencies involved in the infrastructuresector and professional surveyingcompanies to gather the informationneeded to develop this exciting method.

News

Old and deep Underground train lines sufferfrom overheating problems, particularlyduring summer. Modelling by CSIC’s AdnanMortada, Dr Ruchi Choudhary, and ProfKenichi Soga has demonstrated howgeothermal boreholes offer a potentialenergy efficient cooling solution comparedto energy intensive conventional cooling.The waste heat of the subway tunnel can beharnessed to provide heating to residential

and commercial blocks above the tunnels.Simulations have shown that retrofitting theCentral Line with boreholes will result in a5oC and 4.5oC temperature drop in tunnelsand platforms respectively during summerand that a single 100m borehole in theCentral Line can provide an equivalent of1.25 times the UK household annual heatdemand and an addition of 3250KWh ofcooling.

Yu Jia installing the energy harvester at the Forth Road Bridge

A CSIC-developed, patented, low-cost,wireless, battery-free energy harvestingdevice was tested on the Forth Road Bridgein Scotland where, powered only by trafficand wind induced bridge vibrations, it wasdemonstrated successfully powering awireless mote which transmitted data to areceiver mote. “Our macro-Vibration EnergyHarvesting (VEH) prototype hasdemonstrated the potential to generatesubstantially more power than devicesbased on more conventional approaches tovibration energy harvesting and couldprovide a convenient, self-sustaining on-

board power solution to complementemerging wireless sensor technologies – the smarter power backbone to the ever-growing wireless infrastructure,” says Dr YuJia. A spin-out company, 8Power, founded byCSIC academics Dr Ashwin Seshia, ProfKenichi Soga, Dr Yu Jia and Dr Jize Yan, withthe IP Group and Cambridge Enterprise, isbeing formed to commercialise thetechnology. A paper detailing CSIC’s macro-VEH prototype and field trial, titled Avibration powered wireless mote on the ForthRoad Bridge, has been published in theJournal of Physics: Conference Series.

Harnessing heat from London Underground for districtheating

Battery free sensors a step closer

Semi-supervised semantic segmentationand depth estimation from videos ofconcrete bridges

Implementing innovation Annual Review 20168

Implementing innovation Annual Review 2016 9

CSIC experts write industrybest practice andtechnology guides for ICECSIC’s leading experts across the fields ofasset management, wireless sensors,distributed fibre optic strain sensing andbridge monitoring have written a series ofindustry best practice and technologyguides to be published in conjunction withthe Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The four guides are intended to be far-reaching, informing and supporting theconstruction industry, infrastructure ownersand operators, manufacturing, electrical andinformation sectors in the installation andoperation of novel sensing technologies forasset monitoring and management.

The titles include: • Whole-Life Value-Based Decision Making

in Asset Management by RengarajanSrinivasan and Ajith Parlikad. Publicationdate: 8 June 2016

• Wireless Sensor Networks for CivilInfrastructure Monitoring: A Best PracticeGuide by David Rodenas-Herráiz, KenichiSoga, Paul Fidler and Nicholas deBattista. Publication date: 4 July 2016

• Distributed Fibre Optic Strain Sensing forMonitoring Civil Infrastructure: A PracticalGuide by Cedric Kechavarzi, KenichiSoga, Nicholas de Battista, LoizosPelecanos, Mohammed Elshafie andRobert Mair. Publication date: 29 July2016

• Bridge Monitoring: A Practical Guide byCampbell Middleton, Paul Fidler andPaul Vardanaga. Publication date: 9August 2016

All titles will be available to purchase fromthe ICE Bookshop www.icebookshop.com

Professor Lord Mair and CSIC hosted a timelyindustry event to foster discussion amongkey decision makers on the future of smartinfrastructure and construction at the RoyalAcademy of Engineering in March. Theevent, chaired by Andrew Wolstenholme,CEO of Crossrail, aimed to focus industry-wide attention on the current tipping pointin the history and future of our infrastructure.

The discussion concluded that the digitalrevolution is coming and innovation isavailable to drive the necessary change tomodernise our infrastructure industry. Butthere is pressing need for collaboration andknowledge transfer at every level in order tosucceed and, ultimately, secure the UK’sposition as world-leader in smartinfrastructure.

The digital revolution is coming – the infrastructureindustry could lead or follow. Which will it be?

CSIC’s new office at the Department ofEngineering, The James Dyson Building, isCambridge’s first smart building. CSIC hasworked alongside contractor Morgan Sindallto integrate a range of novel technologiesinto the fabric of the building; distributedfibre optic strain sensors and fibre Braggsensors have been embedded within asection of the building’s reinforced concreteframe, columns, beams and slabs. These fibreoptic sensors will collect data from the

infrastructure enabling researchers to learnmore about the structure’s health andbehaviour. The building has been capturedusing the latest 3D laser scanning technologyto create a point cloud of data to virtuallymodel the building and track future changesto its structure. Industry professionals,researchers and students will benefit from thisinnovative building that offers a ‘living lab’,giving those working inside it a chance to usetheir surroundings for research and teaching.

CSIC offices get smart

Representative schematic of the LondonUnderground Central Line (Westbound &Eastbound) equipped with boreholes inthe City of Westminster by CSIC PhDstudent Adnan Mortada

Overview of CSIC’scities andinfrastructuresystems research

CSIC’s studies of cities and infrastructuresystems are not only about gaining a betterunderstanding of the complex challenges inbuilding sustainable cities, but also todevelop tools and guidance that can bedirectly adopted by businesses, communitiesand government agencies in harnessing thepromise of new technologies and newchannels of pervasive data generation.

Working in this area is not without bigbarriers: there are a myriad of stakeholders toengage with, and currently case studies andplanning guidance are ad hoc andfragmented and as a result the best practicehas not found its way to the majority of newprojects.

Our overarching aim is to produce coherenttools and advice on city-scale developmentswhich are shown to be critically importantfor realising the full value of disparateinvestments in infrastructure.

CSIC has proved to be a great researchcommunity, providing opportunities forgetting colleagues in sensing, assetmanagement, city planning and urbandesign to work collaboratively. Smart sensingis key to the development of a user-friendlysystem for gathering city level data and toscale up new analytical solutions.

In the past year CSIC engaged with LondonBridge Station, Network Rail, and the smartinfrastructure and data-sharing committeesof BSI & ISO to beta-test our tools and draftadvice. Some of the research has now beenincorporated in industry advice.

The CSIC team has been active in thedevelopment of smart city standards withBSI and the work has now been extended toISO committees. Working with BIS, BSI andindustry and academic colleagues, a range ofpublicly available standards (PAS) have nowbeen published online by BSI including PAS180, PAS 181, PAS 182, PD 8100 and PD 8101which cover leadership guides, terminology,frameworks and data concept models forsmart cities.

A prominent emphasis of the PASs isharnessing the power of new data sources in the city and creating smart datamanagement standards.

A further area of work is to alpha-test newcity-scale land use, transport andinfrastructure planning models which havebeen developed by CSIC, including demandforecasting, adaptive zoning and spatialeconomic modelling. Such modellingadvances have not only attracted theattention of UK government agencies, butalso urban master planners and designers inChina.

On the integration of city-scale and projectscale design of infrastructure, CSIC hasdeveloped a novel methodology on futureoption modelling of ground source heatpump systems in typical urban officebuildings. The method is to appear inComputer-Aided Civil and InfrastructureEngineering (CACAIE), a top journal of therelated fields.

Going forward CSIC Cities and InfrastructureSystems research will focus on the followingfour areas:• smart cities, linked data and

infrastructure monitoring: completingalpha- or beta-tests of smart data modelsand tools and, in close consultation withIndustry Partners, BSI and ISO, andUnited Kingdom Collaboratorium forResearch in Infrastructure and Cities,deploying them in practical projects

• develop high model validationstandards, with user experiences thatmatch contemporary user expectationsof ease of interpretation

• develop authoritative advice ondevelopments within walking distanceof major public transport hubs

• engage with UKCRIC and NationalResearch Facility for InfrastructureSensing on incorporating theinfrastructure engineering aspects,particularly in minimising constructioncosts and embedding options for futurecapacity expansions.


Dr Ying JinCo-Investigator CSICSenior University Lecturer Department ofArchitectureUniversity of Cambridge

Cities and infrastructure systems

“We’re now incorporating the newadvancements of CSIC’s city-levelmodelling in our planning anddesign proposals – it will findsignificant applications in the fastgrowing developing-countrycities, as well as in the UK.”Dr Chen Wu RIBA MRTPI, Design Principal, BIAD, Beijing

A 3D BIM model by Manuel Davila showing sensors active during curingin concrete rail bridge instrumented by CSIC in Staffordshire. For thefull case study see page 19

Overview of CSIC’s assetmanagement research

Sensor system atmid-span deck

Sensor system in beams

BM1BM2BM4BM5

Sensor system atquarter-span deck

The digital era has fundamentally changedthe way different industry sectors operateand asset management is no exception.Smart infrastructure brings substantial valueto whole-life, value-based assetmanagement – taking a long-term view ofan asset and its value. Data generated bysensor technologies enables the continuedmonitoring of an asset throughout itsproductive lifecycle, producing informationuseful to owners wanting to optimise valuefor money.

CSIC’s Asset Management team has helpedto set the agenda for taking a whole–life,value-based approach to assetmanagement, and making informationfutureproofing a key component of theprocess. This expertise has resulted incollaboration between myself, RengarajanSrinivasan, and the Institution of CivilEngineers (ICE) to publish a guidancedocument produced for infrastructureowners and operators, titled Whole-LifeValue-Based Decision Making in AssetManagement (see page 9).

Maintaining high-quality, resilient andsustainable infrastructure is key to economicgrowth. CSIC continues to workcollaboratively with organisations, both inthe public and private sectors, to identifyand respond effectively to industrychallenges and concerns. Infrastructure

assets have a long lifecycle, often operatingfor many decades, and whole-life value assetmanagement secures the continued andproductive use of an asset over time. AssetManagement workshops, held for CSICIndustry Partners in the past year, confirmedthe benefits of value-based assetmanagement to a range of asset-owningorganisations. Workshop outcomesidentified value in optimising the usagephase of an asset through improvedreliability, maintenance, decision-makingand operational effectiveness.

Good information enhances assetmanagement decisions. CSIC has developedtechnologies and tools to turn data intovaluable information that enables effectivedecision-making. Information managementis a key focus area for CSIC and workingcollaboratively allows us to delivermeaningful solutions.

Information futureproofing is an integral partof whole-life value asset management.Understanding the risks an organisationfaces with the long-term storage of data(including changing standards, software,hardware, owners and managers) and thepotential consequences (loss and/ordeterioration of information) for the assetowner is key to developing a strategy tosafeguard data that informs assetmanagement decisions.

CSIC’s Information Quality Risk AssessmentTool quantifies the risks held by a companyas a result of poor quality and incompletedata. Over the past year, CSIC has workedwith Cambridgeshire County Council,applying the tool to its bridge portfolio, theresults of which could enable theorganisation to build an informed businesscase to present to funders in order toimprove the council’s information system.

BIM continues to be a major focus for theAsset Management team. While industry hasconcentrated on 3D BIM models for newassets – developing standards and modelsfor design and construction phases – CSICbrings focus to using BIM for improved assetmanagement. CSIC’s work investigatesintegrating through-life information aboutan asset with the BIM model, includingsensing data and inspection andmaintenance records. CSIC is working withStaffordshire Alliance’s bridge team todevelop standards for integrating sensingdata with BIM and this project will continueinto next year.

Managing existing assets presentschallenges for BIM. New assets account foronly a small part of the current asset stockbut BIM does not work effectively for existingassets as costs for the required technicalprocess outweigh the benefits. CSIC isbuilding a tool that uses deep machinelearning to automatically develop BIMmodels for existing infrastructure.

The next five years will see CSIC focus onthree areas:• building a suite of decision-making tools

to support asset managers• better understanding how to quantify

the benefits of smart infrastructuresolutions

• pushing the development of BIM forsupporting through-life assetmanagement.

Collaboration with Industry Partners to turnthis research into commercial services willhelp to grow a new industry segment. Thepotential of CSIC’s work is vast and willenhance the future of asset management.


Dr Ajith ParlikadCo-Investigator CSICSenior Lecturer Institute forManufacturingUniversity of Cambridge

Asset management

CSIC Co-Investigator Dr Matthew DeJongreviewing monitoring results on site in Leeds

Overview of CSIC’s dataanalysis andinterpretation research


Data analysis and interpretation

There is a compelling case for the uptake ofsensing and data analysis by theinfrastructure and construction industry. Theengineering, management, maintenanceand upgrading of infrastructure requiresfresh thinking to minimise use of materials,energy and labour while still ensuringresilience. This can only be achieved by a fullunderstanding of the performance ofinfrastructure through structural healthmonitoring, both during its constructionand throughout its design life, by means ofinnovative sensor technologies and otheremerging technologies.

The Data Analysis and Interpretation teamat CSIC is developing cutting edge sensingand data analysis models, which will offer apowerful platform for providing data toenable smarter and proactive assetdecisions, both during new constructionand for existing infrastructure, especiallyageing infrastructure. CSIC has appliedconventional and advanced technologies toa large number of construction projects,including innovative sensors, wirelesssensor networks, fibre optics, laser scanning,photogrammetry, and computer vision, tocapture, analyse and interpret the right dataat the right time to enable better decisionmaking.

CSIC has led the development andinstallation of fibre optic sensors on a widerange of construction projects. The data fromthe fibre optic sensors has providedcompletely new insights into the structuralbehaviour of these components, bothduring construction and after completion.

CSIC’s recent R&D development in WirelessSensor Networks (WSN) includes opensource WSN software and hardware forinfrastructure structural health monitoring, anetwork diagnostic tool and a ‘BIM friendly’WSN planning and maintenance tool (‘BIM’being Building Information Modelling).

Recent examples of CSIC’s successfulapplication of fibre optic and WSNtechnologies to structural health monitoringof infrastructure include:

Fibre optics• performance monitoring of deep shafts

and retaining walls at Crossrail’s PuddingMill Lane, Limmo, Stepney Green andPaddington Station sites

• monitoring of a very deep diaphragmwall (84m) at the Abbey Mills shaft forThames Water (Schwamb et al, 2014)

• assessment of National Grid and Crossrailtunnel lining behaviour during tunnelconstruction in London by embeddingoptical fibre in the precast concretelining segments when being made inthe factory

• monitoring of tunnel performance forthe Large Hadron Collider at CERN,Switzerland

• monitoring of masonry arches at LondonBridge Station to observe themovements during extensive piling workbeneath

• field testing of thermal piles to evaluatethe thermo-mechanical response of pilesduring heating and cooling for groundsource heat pump systems, carried outat London’s Shell Centre, at a major newLondon embassy and at a site inHouston, USA with Virginia Tech and theUS National Science Foundation

• field testing of large diameter piles byintegrating fibre optic strainmeasurement with O-Cell loading testtechnology, for example for the newFrancis Crick Institute in London

• monitoring of beams for new NetworkRail concrete and steel bridges inStaffordshire, instrumented while beingmanufactured offsite in a factory.

Wireless Sensor Networks• a large scale WSN system in the 100-

year-old former Royal Mail Railwaytunnel to measure its behaviour andmovement during construction of alarge diameter platform tunnel veryclose beneath it as part of Crossrail’sLiverpool Street Station project

• a WSN system at London Underground’sTottenham Court Road station tomonitor the performance of timber-based temporary works

• development and deployment of aminiature, ultra-low power ‘UtterBerry’WSN mote by CSIC PhD student HebaBevan, successfully used on a number ofCrossrail sites.

Future challenges will bring focus toestablishing smart sensor methodologies forinfrastructure that are robust and reliable,and able to perform in extremely confinedconditions as part of intensive constructionactivities. This will make sure that systems(both sensor and communication) areaccurately calibrated, ensuring that data isreliable and reported in such a way to allowproper analysis and interpretation. Thisintegrated approach will generate data thatcan be used to make informed decisions thatdeliver improved efficiency and value toindustry.

CSIC’s progressive work in the field of dataanalysis and interpretation has focused onthe need for clear presentation of sensordata coupled with considered analysis andinterpretation. An important strand of thiswork has been the development of user-friendly dashboards, which present the dataclearly in relation to construction activities,enabling proper analysis and interpretation.Establishing high-quality data analysis andinterpretation brings considerable benefitsto the infrastructure and constructionindustry, and opportunities for betterinformed, whole-life asset management.

Professor Lord MairHead of CSICSir Kirby Laing Professor ofCivil EngineeringUniversity of Cambridge

Schematic of a CSIC developed low powernoise sensor

Overview of CSIC’ssensor and datacollection research

As an international centre of excellence inthe development of sensors, CSIC is leadingthe way in the deployment of innovativesolutions to industry challenges.Collaborating with industry has enabled CSICto make valuable contributions to some ofthe most important and challenging civilengineering, transport and infrastructureprojects happening today. CSIC hasdeveloped a range of sensing technologiesthat can be used in combination to meet avariety of demands specific to the siteenvironment, from high temperatures tovery constrained or difficult-to-reach spaces.

CSIC has successfully developed several newapplications for sensing technologies in civilengineering, transport and infrastructure,and the potential of this market, bothnationally and internationally, is vast. CSIChas pioneered the use of fibre optic sensorsto monitor the whole-life performance of anasset and this continues to be an area ofsignificant focus. Structural integration offibre optic sensing systems represents a newbranch of engineering and its applicationrepresents a significant contribution tostructural health monitoring. Theunderpinning technology involves a uniquemarriage of fibre optics, optoelectronics andcomposite material science. CSIC hasdeveloped a distributed fibre optic strain andtemperature measurement system to enableperformance-based design, constructionmonitoring and structural health monitoring.

This has led to the release of Distributed FibreOptic Strain Sensing for Monitoring CivilInfrastructure: A Practical Guide by CedricKechavarzi, Kenichi Soga, Nicky de Battista,Loizos Pelecanos, Mohammed Elshafie andRobert Mair to be published this summer bythe Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

CSIC is advancing research and developmentof energy harvesting, in particular vibrationenergy harvesting (VEH), both at the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) andmacroscopic scales. Vibration-poweredwireless monitoring technology has thepotential to enable maintenance free,autonomous measurement of the behaviourof key structural elements of infrastructure,even in the most difficult-to-reach areas,providing the owner with an approach tosignificantly reduce costs involved inobtaining the data required to develop anunderstanding of the actual capacity andlevel of safety of an asset. These technologiespotentially provide a self-sustaining on-board power solution to complementemerging wireless sensor technologies usedfor structural health monitoring.

Conventional resonant approaches toscavenge kinetic energy are typicallyconfined to narrow and single-bandfrequencies. CSIC’s vibration energyharvesting device combines both directresonance and parametric resonance inorder to enhance the power responsivenesstowards more efficient harnessing of real-world ambient vibration. In a deployment onthe Forth Road Bridge in 2015, the packagedelectromagnetic harvester designed tooperate in both of these resonant regimes,with an operational volume of ~126cm3, wascapable of recovering in excess of 1mWaverage raw AC power from the traffic andwind-induced vibrations in the lateralbracing structures underneath the bridgedeck. The harvester was integrated with apower conditioning circuit and a wirelessmote. Duty-cycled wireless transmissionsfrom the vibration-powered mote weresuccessfully sustained by the recoveredambient energy. CSIC is continuing toinnovate in this area by exploringapproaches for energy harvesting ontransport-related infrastructure whereexisting solutions are limited or unreliable, aswell as actively seek deploymentopportunities for its new technology incollaboration with Industry Partners andinfrastructure owners and operators.

CSIC’s Sensor team is also developing newMEMS sensors to meet the challenges of theinfrastructure industry. MEMS representsmall, integrated devices or systems thatcombine electrical and mechanicalcomponents varying in size frommicrometres to millimetres. These can mergethe function of computation andcommunication with sensing and actuationto produce a system of miniaturedimensions, which has huge potential toproduces low-power, low-cost sensors forremote structural health monitoring ofinfrastructure. CSIC has developed a low-power MEMS strain gauge with an accuracyof better than 10 nε, a dynamic range ofnearly 2000 μe at a power dissipation ofunder 10 μW.

CSIC is also actively exploring energyharvesting at the MEMS scale usingapproaches that could allow for thegeneration of sufficient power to sustainlow-power wireless sensors for structuralhealth monitoring applications. An ongoingInnovate UK funded project is specificallyinvestigating applications for MEMS energyharvesters to high-end automotive andaerospace industries. Battery technologiescannot often operate in high-temperatureconditions associated with conditionmonitoring for these applications (e.g. closeto a jet engine). In addition, there are issuesthat demand miniaturisation of thetechnology due to limited access orconstrained volumes associated with themonitoring locations.

A spin-off, 8Power Ltd, has been set up tocommercialise the low-power MEMS andVEH technologies and CSIC will becollaborating with 8Power to further deploythe technologies and investigateapplications for the technologies beyondinfrastructure monitoring.


Dr Ashwin SeshiaCo-Investigator CSICReader in MicrosystemsTechnologyUniversity of Cambridge

Sensor and data collection

A view of the completed instrumentedconcrete rail bridge

“By investing in anintegrated structuralhealth monitoringsystem the entire loadhistory and associatedbehaviour of an assetcan be tracked ingreat detailthroughout its life.”


Monitoring and modelling dynamic strain of railwaybridges using fibre optic sensor networks and BIMAuthors: Liam Butler, Manuel Davila Additional researchers: Niamh Gibbons, Ioannis Brilakis, Mohammed Elshafie, Campbell Middleton

The projectCSIC is working with the StaffordshireAlliance on the £250m Stafford AreaImprovements Programme to deliver themost comprehensively instrumented newrail bridges in the UK. Two rail bridges, oneconcrete and one steel, have beeninstrumented during their construction withan advanced network of fibre optic sensorscapable of recording data up to 250Hz. Datacollected from the beginning of thestructure’s life enables a ‘state-of-the-asset’report to be generated at handover andperformance-guided asset maintenanceusing finite element modelling, BIM and fibreoptic strain sensors across its lifetime.

The monitoring system represents the firsttime that bridges of this type have beeninstrumented in such detail to understandtheir behaviour from the time they areconstructed. Alongside the instrumentation,CSIC has developed methods to modelstructural performance monitoring systems,manage and include sensor data onto opendata BIM models, visualise sensor datadirectly on BIM models and to develop opendata models.

The innovations• fibre optic cables installed into main

prestressed beams and sleepers off-siteat Laing O’Rourke’s ExploreManufacturing facility. This allowed fasterinstallation of monitoring systems on site

• a new and highly robust temperaturecompensating sensor packaging systemcapable of capturing real-time thermalstrain changes was internally developed

• CSIC has designed a method to allow theoutputs related to strain changes instructural elements during theirconstruction to be included andvisualised in BIM for the first time

• integrating structural performancemonitoring data into BIM models toreflect actual measured behaviour forwhole-life asset management.

Impact and value• based on the data already collected, the

CSIC project team can identify aspects ofstructural behaviour that have not beencaptured previously such as the real-timetime dependent behaviour ofprestressed concrete girders andsleepers; the development of thermaland concrete shrinkage strains in bridgedecks; and the effect of constructiontraffic on the overall bridge response –this will improve future design withpotential cost, material and time savings

• by investing in an integrated structuralhealth monitoring system the entire loadhistory and associated behaviour of anasset can be tracked in great detailthroughout its life

• clients will be able to compare datacaptured from instrumentation to thereference state-of-the-asset report totrack the performance of an asset over itsentire life.

Industry Partners

Fabrication

• Sensors instrumented off-site speeds up theirinstallation and gathersdata on the manufacturingprocess and the integrity ofthe components duringtransportation andinstallation.

Construction

• Measurements can betaken at critical stages ofconstruction to trackstructural response andcompare against nominaldesign values

• Based on strain datagathered duringconstruction, acomprehensive 'state-of-the-asset' report can begenerated at the time ofcommissioning and usedas a baseline for assessinglong-term behaviour andestablishing trends.

Operation

• BIM and finite elementmodels continuouslyupdated to allow assetowners to make informedmaintenance decisions

• Reducing the frequency ofvisual inspections andeliminating 'human error'while having a system bywhich to compare visualobservation to measuredbehaviour

• Potential to modify andoptimise future designs ofsimilar assets leading to a‘closed loop’ asset life cycle.

Decommission

• Asset owners can decide todecommission the assetbased on informationacquired from measureddata, rather than presumedwear, potentially extendingits life.

Timeline of whole-life value

Case study

“The station provides CSIC the opportunity to demonstrate the value of new sensingtechnologies on a real site, includinginnovative monitoring of masonry vaults and passenger flow.”


The projectThe London Bridge Station RedevelopmentProject (LBSR) is part of the Thameslinkupgrade which will increase the capacity ofthe north-south routes through London. Themain objective of the redevelopment is toincrease the number of through-tracks andextend the capacity of the platforms, whichrequired demolition of several historic vaultstructures and the construction of newviaducts and a new concourse. CSICdeveloped new monitoring techniques totackle construction challenges on theproject. The station, the fourth busiest in theUK, is being kept operational during theconstruction works, providing CSIC theopportunity to demonstrate the value ofnew sensing technologies on a real site,including innovative monitoring of masonryvaults and passenger flow.

Engineers on the project, led by CSICResearch Associate Sinan Açıkgöz, werefaced with the task of predicting theresponse of historic brick vaults under theactive platforms to piling inducedsettlements. Using traditionalinstrumentation, it is difficult to quantify theresponse of these viaducts to settlementsand evaluate their safety. In order to ensuresafe operation of the vaults and the tracksabove, CSIC utilised two novel distributedsensing technologies to investigate the vaultresponse to settlements in unprecedenteddetail. The distributed fibre optic sensorsystem, which employs Brillouin Optical TimeDomain Reflectometry (BOTDR), was used toexamine the strain development at severalsections along the vault. This highlighted thelocation and magnitude of emerging cracks.The second system utilised laser scanners togenerate georeferenced 3D point clouds,before and after piling, which were

compared to provide global deformationestimations for all visible surfaces. The richinformation led to the development of moreefficient damage assessment techniques forevaluating settlement-induced damage onmasonry vaults.

In parallel, CSIC tested low-cost infraredsensors and cameras to monitor pedestrianflow around a platform of the new station.This exercise allowed researchers to evaluatethe accuracy of these low-cost sensors andto determine how the pedestrian flowschange as the station is being constructed.This information was linked with pedestrianprediction models which run faster than realtime. By combining the modelling andsensing information, CSIC aims to develop atechnology which can identify imminentcongestions and help station managersidentify issues concerning pedestrian flowsand respond effectively.

The innovations• new cloud comparison techniques were

developed to detect the 3D structuralmovements with high accuracy fromlaser scan data

• the pioneering use of fibre optic sensingin masonry vaults led to the criticalidentification of crack locations andmagnitudes and effective quantificationof damage

• effective linking of modelling andsensing tools enables a betterunderstanding of the performance ofour assets

• the rich data provided by the cheap andefficient sensing techniques holds thekey to improving the efficiency of ourasset assessment and managementtechniques.

Industry Partners

Impact and value• development of new data analysis

techniques to retrieve criticalengineering information from sensingdata

• provide efficient methods to use thedata to improve asset assessment andmanagement

• reduce risks due to uncertainties (e.g.concerning the ground settlements andpassenger flows) by providing cheapand/or distributed monitoringtechniques

• improved fundamental understandingof the mechanical behaviour of masonryassets and their long term behaviour.

Integration of sensing technologies in the London BridgeStation Redevelopment ProjectAuthors: Sinan Açıkgöz, Claudio MartaniAdditional researchers: Loizos Pelecanos, Jize Yan, Kenichi Soga, Simon Stent, Steve Denman,Ying Jin

Case study

“The CSIC modelshould be encouraged.Working with CSIC hasenabled both partnersto jointly develop thetechnology and rollout on demonstrationprojects. CSICprovided the supportand training such thatCementation Skanskanow has a full andindependentcommercial capabilityto deliver distributedfibre optic sensors.”

CSIC trained Cementation Skanskatechnician Maria Scott installing fibre opticsensor cable on a reinforced cage of adiaphragm wall at Battersea Station. Imagecourtesy of Cementation Skanska


CSIC and Cementation Skanska – when projectcollaboration becomes commercial realityAuthors: Cedric Kechavarzi, Andrew BellAdditional researchers: Kenichi Soga, Peter Knott, Jason Shardelow, Echo Ouyang

The projectThe Transport for London Northern LineExtension project will extend the LondonUnderground Northern line from Kenningtonto the disused Battersea Power Station.Construction on the £1bn extension began in2015 and the new line could be open by 2020. Cementation Skanska is using distributed fibreoptic sensing techniques on anunprecedented scale for pile and wall integritytesting during current excavation workconstructing the new stations and tunnels onthe extended line. This novel application offibre optic sensing emerged from research atthe University of Cambridge and wasstandardised by CSIC to technology readinesslevels required for industry adoption. Thecommercial application of distributed fibreoptic sensing by Cementation Skanska hasallowed the company to add a new specialistservice to its portfolio, called CemOptics. Thenew technology is already shortlisted for twoindustry awards.

Work to build the new Battersea Stationrequires Cementation Skanska to:• construct more than 600m of deep

basement diaphragm walls− 1.2m thick diaphragm walls, up to 60m deep

• construct 74 large diameter bearing piles,up to 2.4m diameter and 60m deep

• install in excess of 50 km of FO cable tocompletely replace cross hole soniclogging in both the piles and diaphragmwalls.

The background In 2014 Echo Ouyang, a geotechnical engineerat Cementation Skanska and PhD student ofCSIC Co-Investigator, Professor Kenichi Soga,worked with CSIC on a number of projectsinvestigating the use of distributed fibre optictemperature sensing for pile and wall integritytesting; fibre optics (FO) was used formeasuring concrete temperature duringcuring and assessing the integrity of theelement. The work was led by Andrew Bell,Chief Engineer at Cementation Skanska.

The potential long-term economic and safety-enhancing benefits of using FO more widelywas recognised by Cementation Skanska. Overthe next two years CSIC delivered training andon-site support enabling the company toreach commercial readiness with the FOtechnology, CemOptics.

The innovationThermal methods for testing the integrity ofpiles and wall elements by identifyinganomalies are gaining prominence. Distributedfibre optic temperature sensing provides anon-intrusive, safe and cost effectivetechnique. It is a robust alternative to pointsensing methods, which require theconnection of numerous sensors.Low-cost standard telecommunication fibreoptic cables are simply attached to severalsides of the reinforcement cage of the elementand temperature measurements obtained atclose spatial intervals along the cage. Themeasurements are taken at short time intervalsto record the evolution of the temperatureprofile of the element during concrete curing.

The principle behind this method is based onthe properties of the spectrum of thebackscattered light within an optical fibre. Themethod uses standard optical fibres into whicha laser pulse is launched and the spectrum ofthe backscattered light analysed. Temperatureis inferred from the properties of some of thecomponents of the spectrum.

The trainingCSIC training in the use of distributed fibreoptics was developed to meet the specificneeds of Cementation Skanska:• a two-day bespoke training workshop

delivered to six Cementation Skanskaoperatives, including pilers, engineers andtechnicians, at the company’s Doncastersite. The programme covered how to spliceFO cables, handling cables on site andattaching cables to pile cages

• Maria Scott, a technician at CementationSkanska, spent two weeks working withand learning from members of CSIC’s

Industry Partner

deployment team at the University ofCambridge where she was taughteverything she needed to know about FOfor pile and integrity wall testing. Thiscollaboration equipped Maria with theknowledge and skills to independentlyinstall FO on Cementation Skanska projects,including the Northern Line Extension

• software was developed in collaborationwith Cementation Skanska that allowsprocessing of the data and visualising oftemperature profiles to happenautomatically.

Impact and valueCementation Skanska is now using fibre opticsfor pile and wall integrity testing on anunprecedented scale. There is potential toextend the method worldwide, across thecompany’s entire project portfolio. CemOpticshas now been proven to improve safety, qualityand increase production (thus reducing costs)on site.

CemOptics:• replaces traditional cross hole sonic logging

method• delivers visible improvement in safety• brings technical, quality and safety benefits

acknowledged by all stakeholders • is shortlisted for two industry awards –

Ground Engineering 2016 Award forTechnical Excellence and Product andEquipment Innovation.

Cementation Skanska reports multiple benefitsof the collaboration with CSIC:• enabled partners to jointly develop the

technology and roll out on demonstrationprojects

• fostered and encouraged a collaborativeapproach to research and sharedrecognition

• delivered ‘industry level’ training in the useof new technology

• provided excellent support to CementationSkanska in move to commercialisation

• accelerated change • allowed Cementation Skanska to achieve its

vision of improved safety and deliveringinnovative solutions that make a difference

• Cementation Skanska now has a full andindependent commercial capability todeliver distributed fibre optic sensors. Cementation Skanska is one of the UK’s largest piling

and ground engineering contractors and a CSICfounding Industry Partner.

Case study

The graphic shows the temperature behaviour of the 1.2km of sewer being monitored over a 24-hour period. The deep blue colour is indicative of theambient temperature of the sewer (10OC) in April. The green – yellow-red colours are of increasing temperature liquid joining the sewer from domesticconnections, with flow in the sewer moving right to left. The (mostly) red vertical line is the air temperature inside a manhole, reaching around 16OC.Courtesy of Dr Y Rui


Monitoring storm water inflow in a foul sewer usingdistributed fibre optic temperature sensingAuthor: Phil KeenanAdditional researchers: Cedric Kechavarzi, Peter Knott

“This novel sensingmethod enabled theaccurate detection ofthe time and locationof discharges into thesewer, identifyingwhether dischargescame from domesticconnections, illicitconnections, orsurface rainwaterinfiltration.”

The projectSurface water infiltration into sewers andillicit connections, most often unintended, ofstorm water to foul sewers and of foulsewage to storm sewers, is a major problemassociated with separate sewer systems.

Unwanted infiltration can lead to sewer andtreatment plant design capacity beingexceeded. This can potentially result in overspilling and local flooding or the release ofuntreated sewage in surface water and thewider environment. Eradicating unwantedinfiltration and removing illicit connections isbeneficial to consumers, both in terms ofhygiene and financial cost. However,effective remedial action requires preciseknowledge of the location of infiltrations.

The innovationUnwanted discharges are intermittent andtheir detection requires monitoring systemswith good spatial and temporal resolutionthat can be deployed over kilometres ofsewer networks. Distributed fibre optictemperature sensing meets theserequirements. The system helps to accuratelypinpoint anomalies in operation bydetecting the sudden changes intemperature of the sewer liquid which is dueto differences in foul and storm watertemperature. The technology is autonomousand measures temperature continuouslyalong the entire length of the optical fibre.

CSIC has demonstrated the system (initiallypioneered by Delft University in theNetherlands) near Gloucester, by installingan armored fibre optic temperature sensoralong a 1.5km-length of sewer. A pilot ropewith a sensor cable and float attached waslowered down a manhole. While the floathad travelled downstream, it was retrievedperiodically at manholes in order to pull thecable into the sewer. This installation methodensured that the cable did not sufferexcessive pulling forces.

The cable was connected to a fibre opticanalyser enabling real time temperaturemonitoring of 1.5km of sewer, 24 hours perday, throughout the three-month surveyperiod.

Whenever fluid entered the sewer, its nativetemperature caused the ambienttemperature of the fluid in the sewer tochange. The sensor detected this subtledifference in temperature along the entirelength of sewer being monitored, and thedata collected over the three-month periodwas plotted into waterfall charts.

This novel sensing method enabled theaccurate detection of the time and locationof discharges into the sewer, identifyingwhether discharges came from domesticconnections, illicit connections, or surfacerainwater infiltration.

Impact and value• this project demonstrates the

commercial viability of distributed fibreoptic temperature sensing in detectingsewer operation and malfunction

• data visualisation shows sewer operationpatterns indicative of certain sewerevents (illicit discharge, domestic seweroperational patterns, sewer blockages,manhole overflow events) of value toasset owners and managers

• a network of fibre optic sensors canprovide asset managers with a real-timeview of the condition of their criticalassets

• this innovative monitoring providesinformation that informs planning toensure asset integrity is maintained, andprevents the interruption of service dueto failure.

This demonstration has proved thecommercial viability of this sensing system insewers. CSIC is investigating furtherdemonstration and training opportunitieswith industry to commercialise this methodand see it taken up by the supply chain.

Industry Partner

Case study

“The projectpresented theopportunity for CSICto collaborate withindustry leaders tochallenge traditionalengineering designassumptions to findnew techniques tosave the project timeand money.”

CSIC Technician Peter Knott and ResearchAssociate Nicky de Battista instrumentingthe spray concrete lining at Liverpool StreetStation’s Moorgate shaft


The projectCrossrail is currently the largest constructionproject in Europe. It includes 10 new railstations, six of which are under centralLondon, and 42km of new rail tunnelsweaving through the city’s congested sub-terrain. The project presented twoopportunities for CSIC to collaborate withindustry leaders on innovative applicationsof fibre optic cables to challenge traditionalengineering design assumptions in order tosave future tunnelling and excavationprojects time and money. Crossrail’s stronginnovation policy allowed CSIC to set up‘laboratories’ on site.

The first project, led by Research AssociateNicky de Battista, focused on measuring theadditional strains induced in the sprayedconcrete lining (SCL) at junctions in thetunnels at Liverpool Street Station. A tunnel’sSCL is thickened at these junctions in orderto sustain the stresses caused by theexcavation of the cross-passages. Tunnellining design is based on finite elementmodels but there is a lack of experimentaldata to calibrate these. By embedding FOcables within the SCL at one of the junctionsat Crossrail’s Liverpool Street Stationconcourse, CSIC was able to map the strainbuild-up in the lining at every stage of thecross-passage excavation and, for the firsttime, observe the behaviour of the SCLduring the excavation sequence.

The second project, led by ResearchAssociate Zili Li, monitored the deformationof a Diaphragm wall (D-wall) during deepexcavation at Paddington Station. As theonly train station in the Crossrail projectconstructed using a top-down excavation,the Paddington site provided theopportunity to evaluate the effect of theexcavation of an existing tunnel on D-wallbehavior using fibre optic cables for the firsttime. Fibre optic cables were embedded indiaphragm wall panels allowing CSIC tomonitor the changes in strain conditions

during three key stages of construction;tunnel, concourse and base excavation. Thiswas the first time FO cables have been usedto validate finite element model assumptionsabout this scenario.

The innovationOn Crossrail, CSIC demonstrated innovativeapplications of distributed FO sensors tocollect new data about commonly usedconstruction techniques with the potential torefine and improve future design.

Both projects used Brillouin Optical TimeDomain Reflectometry (BOTDR) embedded inconcrete to measure strain and temperaturechanges within the material at key stages inconstruction. CSIC’s FO technologies enablestrain measurements in the tens ofmicrostrain range in a continuous mannerover lengths of up to 10km, offering anunprecedented level of detail on theconcrete’s behavior during excavation.

Impact and valueAn improved understanding of theperformance of infrastructure duringexcavation, margins of safety, and resilienceenables better, leaner future design.

While further research is needed, the results ofboth studies indicate areas for significantpotential savings in future designs. The resultsof the monitoring of the SCL at LiverpoolStreet Station showed that the effects ofcross-passage excavation on the parenttunnel’s lining are localised in the vicinity ofthe cross-passage openings. Thesepreliminary findings indicate that there aresignificant savings to be made in materials,labour, and plant as well as environmentalbenefits associated with reduced material useand improved site safety due to a decrease inworking at heights to erect steelreinforcement and spray concrete. Similarstudies could translate these findings into realsavings for similar projects such as Crossrail 2.Preliminary results of the Paddington Station

monitoring indicate that the measured D-wall displacement is about 60% of thedesign D-wall displacement. The incrementalbending and deflection profiles generatedthrough the fibre optic cable’s continuousstrain readings indicated that the effect ofthe removal of an existing tunnel on the D-wall deflection and ground heave duringdeep excavation can be significant, but wasless than predicted. This research can beused to improve and refine future D-walldesign, presenting the possibility of savingsin materials and cost through more accuratemodelling.

These ground-breaking studies should serveas a catalyst for infrastructure owners andresearchers to carry out similar studies ondifferent types of SCL tunnel and D-wallconstruction techniques.

Industry Partners

Case study

Fibre optic sensing innovations on CrossrailAuthors: Nicky de Battista, Zili LiAdditional researchers: Kenichi Soga, Robert Mair, Mohammed Elshafie, Cedric Kechavarzi,Peter Knott, Jason Shardelow

“Smarter informationconfirms operationsare safe forconstruction andbetter informs assetmanagers/owners tomake decisions aboutthe project.”


The projectThere are many historic buildings,monuments and structures in the UK thatrequire measures to protect and conservethem. CSIC is working alongside industry todeliver sensing innovations to help assetowners better understand the behaviour ofexisting structures in order to safeguard themagainst new construction activity and tofutureproof to enable continued use. Thiswork includes monitoring the Victoria andAlbert Museum (V&A) in London during deepbasement excavations and monitoringmasonry vaults at sites around the UK.

During deep basement excavation work atthe V&A, the safety of the adjacent exhibitsand building was paramount. CSIC, led byCSIC Research Associate Loizos Pelecanos,installed fibre optic (FO) cables to measuremovement and temperature at criticallocations in the building’s foundations. Sevenreadings have been taken at significant pointsduring the construction process, to assessbasement heave, detect any changes to thefoundation slabs, and to monitor theperformance of the tension piles. This projectmarks the first time this type of monitoringhas been possible.

Masonry vault structures form an importantpart of the UK’s legacy infrastructure intunnels and across the rail network. Thesestructures are vulnerable to high service loadsand ground settlements so understanding thebehaviour of these assets will be key tosecuring their continued effective use. CSIC’smasonry vault research, led by Co-InvestigatorMatthew DeJong with Research AsssociateSinan Açıkgöz, aims to quantify thevulnerability of these structures and providedetailed and accurate data to better informmaintenance programmes and assetmanagement. Conventional point sensors(e.g. strain and displacement gauges) onlymeasure the behaviour of the material at thesensor location and do not provide sufficientinformation. CSIC has developed distributed

sensing techniques using fibre optics, laserscanning and photogrammetry which sensecontinuous response along the structure,both under static and dynamic loads. Thesetechniques enable sensitive detection of localdamage, as well as a comprehensivedescription of global deformations.

The innovationCSIC instrumented two piles and a part of thefoundation slab at the V&A with two pairs ofFO cables, one for measuring changes instrain and the other temperature. Any appliedload or temperature causes changes in thefrequency content of light propagatedthrough an optical fibre. By measuring thisfrequency change, CSIC is able to back-calculate the induced load or temperature todeliver detailed information about theintegrity of the underground structure andadditional assets of the museum that no othersensor device can provide.

CSIC is using distributed sensing to deliverunprecedented detail concerning theresponse of masonry arches to short and longterm effects. Various FO cables attached to thestructure can measure the strain experiencedalong their length, providing detailedinformation on the dynamic behaviour, aswell as long term static changes in thestructure due to structural degradation andground settlements. In particular, the noveluse of Brillouin Optical Time DomainReflectometry (BOTDR) for assessing thedynamic loads on the structure, represents anew technical advancement.

The non-contact laser scanning andphotogrammetry sensing solutions providefurther new insight on the response ofmasonry vaults. In particular, by investigatingthe precise 3D geometry quantified by laserscanners, it is possible to quantify the historicdisplacements experienced by the structure.New software has been developed for thispurpose. Furthermore, CSIC utilisescommercial photogrammetric tools, to detect

the 3D movements of the masonry structuresduring dynamic loading. Overall, the sensingdata from these new technologiescomplement one another and provideengineers with data to calibrate mechanicalmodels of masonry to better understand theresponse of the critical masonry assets.

Impact and value• the construction team at the V&A receives

detailed information about the integrityof the underground structure which is ofvalue to the contractor (safety), consultant(checks and improves design), and assetowner (ensures safety of heritagebuilding)

• future use of this method could informadjustment of design prior toconstruction, based on the actualperformance of the tension piles,resulting in savings in material costs andgreater confidence in design

• CSIC’s ongoing research on newtechnologies of monitoring masonryarches improves the use of FO, laserscanning and photogrammetrytechniques to offer effective andpervasive sensing that delivers a betterunderstanding of assets and their state

• in general, new sensing techniquesprovide an unprecedented level of detailand a better appreciation of structuralresponse to a range of factors. Assetowners can use this information tocalculate risk and monitor complexengineering works carried out in thevicinity of historic structures

• smarter information confirms operationsare safe for construction and betterequips asset managers/owners to makedecisions about the project.

Industry Partners

Case study

Futureproofing and safeguarding heritage structuresthrough sensingAuthors: Sinan Açıkgöz, Loizos PelecanosAdditional researchers: Matthew DeJong, Kenichi Soga, Robert Mair

CSIC Technician Jason Shardelow trainingResearch Associate Hesham Aldaikh on fibreoptic splicing in the CSIC lab


Training and industryengagement updateAs an Innovation and Knowledge Centre(IKC), the key aim of CSIC is to undertakeworld-leading research to transform thefuture of smart infrastructure andconstruction and industry-collaborativeprojects to establish the UK as a globalleader in this field.

Sharing information,skills and knowledgeis key to advancingindustry adoption ofinnovative solutionsto engineeringchallenges. CSIC is a hub for academia, industry andgovernment organisations to work togetherat a range of scales to transform the way inwhich we deliver infrastructure and ensurethe value and benefits from our world-classresearch outputs, activities and impact reacha wide audience.

CSIC hosts, attends and presents at events,conferences and workshops bothnationally and internationally. CSIC broughtthe international community together,hosting the Cambridge Conference onFibre Optic Sensing in Civil Infrastructureand the Cambridge Conference on WirelessSensor Networks in Civil Infrastructure,precursors to this year’s InternationalConference for Smart Infrastructure andConstruction. CSIC also hosted a series ofFuture Technologies Workshops with topicsincluding the Internet of Things and theuse of Big Data in the context ofinfrastructure and construction. These

interactive events, which offer a chance todiscuss specific challenges and identifypotential solutions, are open to IndustryPartners and other organisations, includingSMEs and developers. During 2015, CSICtook part in more than 25 externalconferences – including New CivilEngineer’s UK Roads, UK Rail, Piling andFoundations and Basements andUnderground Structures, as well as theInfrastructure Forum, and Institution of CivilEngineers’ (ICE) BIM 2015 and AssetManagement conferences. CSIC’s presenceat these events provides a showcase for itsresearch and enables us to meet newindustry contacts – a number of thesemeetings have resulted in new andcollaborative project work.

CSIC also works to raise industry awarenessthrough dissemination, developing trainingfor industry in the use of innovativetechniques and tools. We provide input tostandards and CSIC’s leading experts havewritten a series of industry best practice andtechnology guides in conjunction with ICE.CSIC receives funding from Innovate UK, theEngineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil (EPSRC), and works with theKnowledge Transfer Network (KTN) andother strategic partners, including theDepartment for Transport (DfT), to supportthem in showcasing the very latestdevelopments in engineering sensingtechnologies for a UK and an internationalaudience.

In the past five years we have collaboratedclosely with more than 40 Industry Partnersworking on many major engineeringprojects, including Crossrail, StaffordshireAlliance and London Bridge StationRedevelopment Project. These collaborations

have led to the development of new skillsand techniques to deliver smarterinfrastructure: innovative sensors andtechnologies that can provide clear evidenceof where significant savings can be made inthe future, successfully deployed on some ofthe largest infrastructure projects in the UK;using data to develop whole-life, value-based decision-making frameworks for assetmanagement; and looking at howinfrastructure investments bring value tocities and communities.

As well as pursuing a research agenda, CSICsupports businesses to exploit commercialopportunity and collaborations haveresulted in a number of spin-outs and patentapplications including the low-power,miniature, wireless sensor, UtterBerry andvibration energy harvesting power-solutiontechnology, 8Power. Our collaboration withIndustry Partner Cementation Skanska hasresulted in the company being able to fullycommercialise a new industry method forintegrity testing which it is now putting tofull use on the new Battersea Station projectthat is part of the Northern Line Extension(see more details on page 22) and isshortlisted for two industry awards.

These exportable technologies, techniques,skills, products and services are of greatbenefit to the British economy, and offersubstantial markets for commercialexploitation. They are signature componentsof ‘the CSIC effect’ – where the Centre acts asa catalyst to implement cutting edge toolsand techniques from research into theinfrastructure industry and supply chain.

Our people

Professor Lord Robert Mair, CBESir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil EngineeringLord Mair is Head of CSIC. He is a Vice-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Academyof Engineering, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was formerly Master of Jesus College, Head of CivilEngineering at the University of Cambridge and Senior Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In the2010 New Year's Honours list he was awarded a CBE and was appointed an independent crossbencher in theHouse of Lords in October 2015. Before he was appointed to a Professorship at Cambridge in 1998 he worked inindustry for 27 years, and was a founding partner of the Geotechnical Consulting Group. His research group atCambridge specialises in the geotechnics of tunnelling and underground construction. He has advised onnumerous tunnelling and major civil engineering projects in the UK and worldwide, including the Jubilee LineExtension, Crossrail and HS1. He is Chairman of the Science Advisory Council of the Department for Transport andEngineering Adviser to the Laing O’Rourke Group.

Professor Roberto CipollaProfessor of Information EngineeringRoberto Cipolla joined the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, in 1992 as a Lecturer and a Fellowof Jesus College. He became a Reader in Information Engineering in 1997 and a Professor in 2000. His researchinterests are in computer vision and robotics to include: the recovery of motion and 3D shape of visible surfacesfrom image sequences; object detection and recognition; novel man-machine interfaces using hand, face andbody gestures; real-time visual tracking for localisation and robot guidance and applications of computer vision inmobile phones.

Dr Mohammed ElshafieLaing O’Rourke Lecturer of Construction EngineeringMohammed Elshafie is a Fellow of Robinson College and a member of the geotechnical research team at theUniversity of Cambridge, which is at the forefront of applying optical fibre strain sensing technology on a widerange of civil engineering infrastructure assets. The team’s work has been recognised by a number of awardsincluding the Fleming Award 2013 for Geotechnical Engineering Excellence from the ICE and the BGS in London,the Ground Investigation and Monitoring Award 2014 sponsored by the International Tunnelling andUnderground Space Awards, and the ICE Russell Crampton Award for the best paper in the ICE Proceedings ofGeotechnical Engineering for 2014. He previously worked as a geotechnical engineer at Geotechnical ConsultingGroup (GCG) in London.

Dr Ying JinSenior University Lecturer Ying Jin leads the urban modelling group at the Department of Architecture. His research interests are focused onthe understanding and modelling of physical planning and urban design interventions through activity sensing,logistics monitoring, spatial analytics, machine-learning and real option theory. Past projects include strategicplanning of London and surrounding regions, local planning in English Midlands, freight and logistics acrossBritain, transport and energy scenarios for EU, and urban and transport plans in China and South America. In 2015he was a co-author of a best paper at Computational Science and Its Applications (2015) on adaptive zoning. He isa member of the British Standards Institute Committee for Smart Community Infrastructure (SDS/001/08), theSteering Group for PAS180 (Smart Cities – Vocabulary), and ISO ad hoc committee on transportation andinformation sharing under TC 268/SC01.

Professor Cecilia MascoloProfessor of Mobile SystemsCecilia Mascolo was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science, UCL, prior to joining the Universityof Cambridge in 2008. She is Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) and a Fellow of the Royal StatisticalSociety. Her research interests include mobile and sensor systems, mobility modelling, mobile applications, andmobile data analysis. She has worked on systems to improve efficiency of mobile and wearable devices, sensingsystems, and models able to cater for spatio-temporal aspects related to human mobility.

CSIC Phase One Investigators

Our people Annual Review 201632

Our people Annual Review 2016 33

Professor Duncan McFarlaneProfessor of Industrial Informational EngineeringDuncan McFarlane is Head of the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory within the Institute forManufacturing, University of Cambridge. He has been involved in the design and operation of industrialautomation and information systems for 20 years. His research work is focused in the areas of distributed industrialautomation, reconfigurable systems, RFID integration, track and trace systems, and valuing industrial information.Most recently he has been examining the role of automation and information solutions in supporting serviceenvironments and in addressing environmental concerns.

Professor Cam MiddletonProfessor of Construction EngineeringCampbell Middleton is the Director of the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology. Heis Chairman of the UK Bridge Owners Forum that identifies research needs and priorities for bridge infrastructure,and Principal Investigator for the EPSRC Future Infrastructure Forum Network Grant for Resilient and SustainableInfrastructure. He previously worked in bridge and highway construction and design in Australia and London. Hecontributes to the development of bridge codes of practice and acts as a specialist bridge consultant. Main areasof interest include: computational collapse analysis; risk and reliability analysis; computer vision for structuralevaluation; non-destructive testing and inspection; wireless sensor networks for structural health monitoring, andsustainability evaluation of constructed facilities.

Dr Ajith ParlikadSenior LecturerAjith Parlikad is the Deputy Director of the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory and leads the AssetManagement research group at the Institute for Manufacturing. Ajith oversees research activities on engineeringasset management and maintenance, with particular focus on examining how asset information can be used toimprove asset performance through effective decision making, to include: value-based approach for identifyinginformation requirements for infrastructure asset management; futureproofing of infrastructure, and performancemeasurement of asset management systems. He actively engages with industry through research and consultingprojects.

Dr Ashwin SeshiaReader in Microsystems TechnologyAshwin A. Seshia is a Fellow of Queens’ College, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Fellow of the Institution forEngineering and Technology and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Hisresearch interests include microengineered dynamical systems with applications to sensors and sensor systems. Heserves on the editorial boards of the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, the IOP Journal ofMicromechanics and Microengineering and the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and FrequencyControl.

Professor Kenichi SogaChancellor’s Professor, University of California, BerkeleyKenichi Soga is formerly Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He is Fellow of the RoyalAcademy of Engineering and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. His current research activities include:innovative monitoring and long-term performance of civil engineering infrastructure; energy geomechanics, andmodelling of underground construction processes. He is recipient of several awards including George StephensonMedal and Telford Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers and Walter L. Huber Civil EngineeringResearch Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

CSIC Phase One Core Team

Research Phase One Associates

Dr JenniferSchooling Director

SamanthaArchettiAdministrator

Amelia BurnettCommunicationsManager

Paul HeffernanFormer Director

Dr CedricKechavarzi Trainingand KnowledgeTransfer Manager

Peter Knott Senior Technician

Lisa MillardCommunications

Larissa MooreFormerAdministrator

Ellen MumfordFormerAdministrator

Helen NeedhamFormerCommunicationsManager

Jason ShardelowTechnician

Tianlei WuFinance Manager

Phil KeenanBusinessDevelopmentManager

Sandy YatteauIndustry PartnerLiaison Manager

Sinan Açıkgöz Hesham Aldaikh EmmanuelleArroyo

Liam Butler Phil Catton Rachel Cuthbert

Nicky de Battista Steve Denman Cuong Do ChristosEfstratiou

Paul Fidler Martin Floeck

Manuel DavilaDelgado

Andrea Gaglione

Niamh Gibbons Alex Hagen-Zanker

Ankur Handa Simon Hartley Yu Jia Krishna Kumar Varindra Kumar

Our people Annual Review 201634

Our people Annual Review 2016 35

Zili Li Zhenglin Liang Claudio Martani Tariq Masood Sarfraz Nawaz VioricaPătrăucean

PasqualePonterosso

David RodenasHerraiz

Yi Rui Hyungjoon Seo Raj Srinivasan Kiril Stanilov

Loizos Pelecanos

Paul Vardanega

Ian Williams Chris Williamson MichaelWilliamson

CSIC would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following current andformer PhD students, trainees, secondees and knowledge transfer partners whohelped deliver our Phase One research agendaMehdi AlhaddadMohamed AlserdareMélanie BanesHeba BevanJules BirksGerald CaseyEmmanuel Chimamkpam-OkonkwoShao-Tuan ChenXuesong ChengDebbie DengVanessa Di MurroSijun DuAndreja ErbesNjemile FaustinJimeng FengTao FengEmanuele GiglioSaleta Gil-LorenzoChang Ye Gue

Ping HeTim HillelHsintzu HoKaveh JahanshahiKoson JanmontaXihe JiaoYingyan JinVivien KwanVitaly LevdikChi Ming LeungBo LiZhonglu LinKatie LiuYing Wan LohLinqing LuoMingfei MaYing MeiNao MinakataYuto MinakataTsukasa Mizutani

Adnan Mortada Takuma NakamuraMasanari NakashimaGiuseppe NarcisoTatsua NiheiBella NguyenJhon L.L. NuquiMasahito OmoriEcho OuyangMahul PatelYuchen QianZhihao QuiStefania RadopoulouStefan RitterXiao RongSatoko RyuoTsubasa SasakiTina SchwambSakthy SelvakumaranMunenori Shibata

Taichi ShimizuSimon StentHani TahaSeda TorisuDavid TurnerLi WanFei WangKelly WangGraham WebbMatthew WilcockJinlong XuSeiji YamadaKyosuke YasudaGökçen YilmazYang YuYifei YuDan ZhangYi ZhangBingyu ZhaoHong-Hu Zhu

Xiaomin Xu Jize Yan VassilisZachariadis

Looking ahead

This is a time of great opportunity in theworlds of infrastructure and construction,particularly for innovation and ‘smart’solutions. With an increased focus bygovernment on infrastructure andconstruction, the setting up of the NationalInfrastructure Commission and a number ofmajor organisations establishing innovationprogrammes, the time is ripe fortransformation in our industry.

We are delighted that EPSRC and Innovate UKhave confirmed their support for CSIC overthe next five years, and that the Chancellor’s2016 Budget established the Government’scommitment to UKCRIC (see page 40), whichwill provide a forum for inter-disciplinarycollaboration between the UK’s leadingresearchers in infrastructure and cities.

Preparations for the launch of CSIC’s secondphase are under way, and we are currentlydeveloping the themes emerging from theUKCRIC scoping workshops to help shape ourproposed research agenda for the next fiveyears.

While CSIC’s work to date has delivered anumber of achievements in promotinginnovative solutions for smart infrastructure,an industry survey carried out by theKnowledge Transfer Network (KTN)highlighted key ongoing challenges:• lack of integrated solutions for smart

infrastructure• limited industry appetite for innovation –

reliability and safety concerns• lack of a strong business case for smart

infrastructure solutions• lack of choice in the supply chain.

Responding to these industry challenges will,in part, shape CSIC’s agenda and build onachievements arising from our collaborativework with leading partners in theinfrastructure and construction markets. Inaddition to continued innovation in newtechnologies and approaches, CSIC will seekto expand and integrate the work of PhaseOne in order to bring holistic and smartsolutions that can be easily deployed byindustry to address real needs.

Over the next five years CSIC is keen toincrease its industry reach and support the UKto become a world leader in the fields ofsensing technologies, asset management and

smart city development. To achieve this, weplan to develop our model for industrypartnership, and work closely with a range ofpartners, including SMEs, to deliver robustsolutions and help to develop the supplychain’s capabilities.

Thames Tideway and HS2 have confirmedtheir commitment to implementinginnovation, and are running focussedprogrammes to engage their supply chainand academia in shaping and delivering this.We look forward to exciting opportunities towork with both organisations.

To strengthen CSIC’s level of impact, we willwork with a range of world-leading academicorganisations to bring the best new thinkingin relevant areas to our partners. This includesthe addition of a number of new Co-Investigators to the CSIC team.

Through UKCRIC we are developing new linkswith related EPSRC programmes, includingInternational Centre for Infrastructure Futures(ICIF), Infrastructure Business ModelsValuation and Innovation for Local Delivery(IBUILD) and Multi-scale InfrastructureSystems Analytics (MISTRAL). Internationallywe are working with the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, the Centre forAdvanced Infrastructure and Transportationat Rutgers University, USA, the University ofTokyo, Japan, the National University ofSingapore, and Tongji University, China.

CSIC will also ‘spin-in’ technologies from otherfields, working with other UK universities andthe Catapults in Transport Systems, FutureCities, Advanced Manufacturing and DigitalEconomy to engage their partners in theseemerging areas in delivering smartinfrastructure solutions.

Collaboration will be key to success. CSIC isworking with industry bodies including theConstruction Leadership Council (CLC) andthe Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) to unitethe industry in smart innovation.

There is more yet to be done. As an industrywe must continue to break down barriers andengage at all levels to foster innovation,placing it at the heart of infrastructureplanning. No single organisation can do thisalone, but if we work together, we all benefit.

The future looks smart for infrastructure andconstruction

Dr Jennifer SchoolingDirector of CSICUniversity of Cambridge

“As an industry wemust continue tobreak down barriersand engage at alllevels to fosterinnovation, placing itat the heart ofinfrastructureplanning. No singleorganisation can dothis alone, but if wework together, we allbenefit.”

Looking ahead Annual Review 201636

Looking ahead Annual Review 2016 37

Dr Giovanna BiscontinLecturer in Geotechnical EngineeringGiovanna Biscontin was awarded her MS and PhD in geotechnical engineering from the University of California,Berkeley (USA). She was an academic at Texas A&M University until joining the Department of Engineering at theUniversity of Cambridge in 2013. Her work focuses on characterising and modelling the response of soils,especially when subjected to cyclic loading, such as earthquakes. Her research interests are also related to offshoredeposits and soft marine clays in particular. She received the CAREER Award from the US National ScienceFoundation in 2004. Her work also includes constitutive modelling of the compressive response of Venice Lagoonsoils, seafloor-riser interaction, correlations between strength and geophysical properties, design of mechanicallystabilised earth walls, and probabilistic methods applied to geotechnical engineering. She is currently heading aproject on design of foundations for offshore wind towers, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Dr Ruchi ChoudharyReader in Architectural EngineeringDr Ruchi Choudhary is leading the multi-disciplinary Energy Efficient Cities initiative (EECi) with colleagues intransport technologies and urban planning. She specialises in building simulation and environmentalcharacteristics of the built environment. Her current research focuses on urban-scale energy simulation of builtenvironments, with specific emphasis on uncertainty analysis and retrofits of existing buildings. The workinvestigates how simulation science can support pathways towards energy efficient cities, taking into accountlarge variability among buildings, and a highly dynamic context associated with economics, regulations, and theinfluence of new emerging technologies. This research has led to new methods and tools including: a simulationplatform for multi-period energy retrofits under economic uncertainties; stochastic urban-scale energy model thatquantifies the impact of current UK policies, and spatial energy network optimisation tool to predict energy andemissions.

Professor Daping ChuHead of the Photonics & Sensors GroupDaping Chu is Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) Steering Committee. He is aDirector of Research and also a Fellow and Director of Studies at Selwyn College, a chartered engineer, a Fellow ofthe Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Chartered Physicist and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Hejoined the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge in 1998 and Cambridge Research Laboratory ofEpson in 1999, where he was the Executive Researcher. His research activity has encompassed theoretical andexperimental condensed matter physics. Current research interests include: future display technologies - full colourhigh brightness trans-reflective displays and 2D/3D holography; GHz/THz tunable dielectrics; energy saving andradiation control for the built environment, metal oxide materials and transparent electronics and printable andflexible electronics and inkjet fabrication

Dr Matthew DeJongSenior Lecturer in Structural EngineeringMatthew is a Fellow and Director of Studies in Engineering at St Catharine's College. Previously he was a FulbrightScholar at the Technical University of Delft and completed his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In2009 he won the Edoardo Benvenuto Prize for his research in mechanics of masonry structures. He has worked inindustry, for a structural engineering design consultancy in California, and his current research interests include:earthquake engineering and structural dynamics; assessment and monitoring of existing infrastructure; masonrystructures; computational modelling and soil-structure interaction.

CSIC’s new Phase Two Investigators

Dr Elisabete SilvaSenior Lecturer in Spatial PlanningElisabete Silva is a Fellow and Director of Studies at Robinson College. She is Director of the M.Phil in PlanningGrowth and Regeneration and Director of the Lab of Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis (LISA Lab), a GeographicInformation Lab that congregates data, software and expertise for spatial analysis in Land Economy's relatedsubjects – planning, real estate and finance, environmental policy, environmental and climate change. Her 20-yearresearch career, both in the public and private sector, brings focus to the application of new technologies to spatialplanning, in particular city and metropolitan dynamic modelling through time, including: land use, transportationand metropolitan planning; regional and integrated planning (urban/transportation/environmental); geographicinformation systems and planning support systems, and computation and dynamic simulation – AI models.

Dr James TalbotUniversity LecturerJames Talbot is Fellow and Director of Studies in Engineering, at Peterhouse. He is a chartered engineer and a Fellowof the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a Member of the Institute of Acoustics and a Director of the InternationalInstitute of Acoustics & Vibration. His post-doctoral research focused on the control of noise and vibration fromunderground railways. He worked with engineering consultancy Atkins where he spent nine years working primarilyin the fields of vibration engineering and structural integrity. His experience covers experimental work, theoreticalanalysis and design from across a wide range of industries. He returned to the University of Cambridge, where hecompleted his BA and MEng, in 2013 as a University Lecturer in the Structures Group of the Civil EngineeringDivision. His research interests lie broadly within the field of structural dynamics to include: dynamic models for theperformance-based design of base-isolated buildings; analysis and control of ground-borne vibration and re-radiated noise from roads and railways, and dynamic measurements for monitoring structural integrity.


Looking ahead Annual Review 2016 39

The International Conference on SmartInfrastructure and Construction (ICSIC) 2016,organised and hosted by CSIC, will bringtogether world-leading academics andpractitioners from the fields of infrastructureplanning, asset management and sensing.

Key speakers at the three-day event, takingplace from 27 to 29 June 2016, include:Professor Tom O’Rourke, Thomas R BriggsProfessor of Engineering, School of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering, CornellUniversity, USA; Andrew Wolstenholme OBE,Chief Executive Officer, Crossrail, UK; KeithClarke CBE, Vice President, Institution of CivilEngineers and David McKeown, CEO,Institute of Asset Management, UK.

Key topics for discussion will includeinfrastructure resilience, design forinfrastructure adaptability, creating valuefrom infrastructure and delivering smarterinfrastructure. The unique combination ofspecialist fields and disciplines at ICSIC 2016will bring focus to the power of smarterinformation with the aim of confrontingpersistent barriers and identifying anddeveloping novel and proactive solutions.

ICSIC 2016 will provide a dynamic platformfor researchers and academics working inthe fields of geotechnical and structuralengineering, structural health monitoring,asset management and city scaleinfrastructure planning the use of smarterdata in cities. The conference will also be ofinterest to decision makers and analysts fromindustry and government responsible for:design, construction and operation of

infrastructure assets; asset management andspecification and procurement of majorinfrastructure assets.

Director of CSIC, Dr Jennifer Schooling, said:

“ICSIC 2016 is asignificant step in thehistory of CSIC. Theconference hasattracted key speakersfrom industry andacademia who areworld-leading expertsin their fields. Thisevent will create aunique platform fordiscussion with theaim of furtheringCSIC’s key aim totransform the futureof infrastructurethrough smarterinformation.”A number of topics related to the key themewill also be addressed, including:engagement with different stakeholders andwider society; the role of regulators andstandards bodies; effective data

management and interpretation and thevalue of smart infrastructure to society.Parallel session streams will discuss:• Cities – the role of planning in

enhancing resilience and adaptability ofthe urban environment; how investmentin infrastructure promotes economicdevelopment

• Assets – whole-life approaches to assetmanagement; futureproofingconsiderations for infrastructure assetmanagement

• Sensors – how better information caninform flexible design, improvedresilience and life extension; the role ofsensing in performance-based designand condition-based maintenance.

The organisers of ICSIC 2016 include Head ofCSIC, Professor Lord Robert Mair (Co-Chair),CSIC Co-Investigators Professor Kenichi Soga (Co-Chair), Dr Ying Jin, Professor DuncanMcFarlane, Professor Cam Middleton, Dr AjithParlikad and Director of CSIC, Dr JenniferSchooling.

ICSIC 2016 will be held at Robinson College,University of Cambridge from Monday 27 toWednesday 29 June. The conference dinnerwill be held at St John’s College on Tuesday28 June.

For full details see: www-icsic.eng.cam.ac.uk

For further information contact: ICSIC 2016 Event Manager: [email protected] +44(0)1223 766141

The International Conference on Smart Infrastructureand Construction (ICSIC)

The University of Cambridge is one of thefounding members of the United KingdomCollaboratorium for Research inInfrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC). UKCRICwill be one of the largest collaborativeresearch programmes in the UK, connectingmultiple communities of researchersworking on clean water supplies, transport,social interaction, waste management,energy, sensors, flood defences, urban living,and data handling, amongst other areas, toprovide a coordinated multidisciplinary andcross sectoral knowledge base. Currentnational and international partners include:Bristol City Council, Network Rail, MottMacDonald, Buro Happold, Atkins, NationalGrid, Department for Transport, EDF andThames Water, with many more partners tofollow.

Initially spanning 14 universities, UKCRIC hasreceived £138 million in capital funding fromthe Government on the basis that there is anurgent need, and a transformativeopportunity, to develop and exploit majoradvances in scientific and engineeringunderstanding and connect this with theevolving needs and ambitions of nationsand cities within the UK. The funding will beused for 11 national laboratories thatunderpin transformative research for allpartners and stakeholders. Further funding isbeing sought for a central CoordinationNode, a series of linked ‘Urban Observatories’and multi-level modelling and simulationfacilities.

The University ofCambridge willreceive £18 million infunding to build aNational ResearchFacility forInfrastructure Sensingon the WestCambridge site, whichwill build upon theexpertise of theCentre for SmartInfrastructure andConstruction.

The interdisciplinary research facility, due toopen in spring 2018, will focus on researchin the application and development ofadvanced sensor technologies for themonitoring of the UK’s existing and futureinfrastructure, in order to improve resilienceand extract maximum whole-life value. Theuse of advanced sensors and appropriatedata analysis will ensure better productquality, enhanced construction safety, andsmarter asset management.

A dedicated deployment team will assist theinstallation, monitoring and maintenance ofthe newly developed sensor systems,enabling all UKCRIC partners to developpowerful sensing platforms that can bedeployed in the field quickly and effectively.Sensors will be used through theconstruction and life of the building, toexemplify the possibilities of smartinfrastructure technology.

The major new building (4280m²) will house:• double- and single-height laboratories

for rapid prototyping and open-sourcemicrocontroller platforms to produceand develop novel sensor systems at arange of scales

• vibration isolated and severeenvironment laboratories to test andcalibrate sensors under a range ofenvironmental conditions andtemperatures

• a Microelectromechanical systems(MEMS) lab

• an advanced structural dynamics labwith scaled and full-scale physicaltesting capabilities

• advanced facilities for data analysis andsmart construction computation

• a field deployment team• lecture and teaching space.

To learn more about the United KingdomCollaboratorium for Research inInfrastructure and Cities visit:www.ukcric.co.uk

The University of Cambridge partners with UKCRIC tofurther infrastructure research


Image of the National Research Facility for Infrastructure Sensing. Courtesy of Grimshaw Architects

CSIC would like to thank our Phase One Industry Partners

Unless credited all photographs have been provided by staff and students at CSIC, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

Infrastructure clients (owners and operators)

Consultants, contractors and asset managers

Technology and information supply chain

Knowledge partners

Email: [email protected]: +44 (0)1223 746976www.centreforsmartinfrastructure.com

@CSIC-IKC

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Cambridge Centre forSmart Infrastructure& Construction

Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction Annual Review 2016

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