Overview
The background to the present research proposal is given by special tests of civil engineering structures in the course of the asset management of road infrastructure. One of several possibilities in the field of special tests is the BRIMOS® assessment method developed by VCE, which is a user-oriented technology for capturing and evaluating structural condition based on applied structural dynamics gradually developed over the last 25 years. The objective of the present research proposal is BRIMOS® V13.0 and represents a complete realignment of the current IT environment -similar to the fundamental change in philosophy in cases of developing new operating system for PCs.
The main focus lies on a completely new data model involving the necessity to re-evaluate and upgrade the programming of all prior analysis modules. In this process it is intended to adapt existing evaluation routines (addressing Structural Performance & Resilience analysis) in order to integrate the experience of the past years regarding the increasing requirements and complexity in infrastructure assessment in terms of an integral infrastructure assessment package (keywords Structural Performance, Resilience). The background of the present research proposal is the field of asset management of road infrastructure focusing on so-called civil engineering structures (e.g. bridges, retaining walls, gantries etc.). In addition to the regular visual inspections (e.g. according to RVS 13.03.11) so-called special tests are carried out in cases when the consequences of given deficiencies on the integrity of the structure cannot be reliably estimated. The importance of the special tests has noticeably gained in importance nationally and internationally within the last few years.
The special test method BRIMOS® developed by VCE is a technology for the survey and assessment of civil engineering structures on the basis of the measured/calculated dynamic load-bearing behaviour. This user-oriented technology has been gradually developed over the last 25 years based on the constantly changing requirements (BRIMOS® V1 - BRIMOS® V12). The version numbers reflect the successive development of an assessment package including routines for measurement data analysis and result visualization, a strongly database-oriented approach and additionally developed mobile and permanent sensor systems.
The objective of the present research proposal is BRIMOS® V13.0 and represents a complete realignment of the current IT environment -similar to the fundamental change in philosophy in cases of developing new operating system for PCs. The main focus lies on a completely new data model involving the necessity to re-evaluate and upgrade the programming of all prior analysis modules in order to incorporate the increasing complexity in the assessment of infrastructure (keywords Structural Performance, Resilience).
Objectives, methodical procedures and aspired results:
- Creation of a new data model for the existing/future contents of the BRIMOS® database.
- Reprogramming of all analysis modules connected to the BRIMOS® database (pre & core analyses of measurement data / assessment of structures).
- Increased integration of all results from the different analysis modules into a new central result module for query, visualization and animation of the relevant test results.
- Accompanying demonstration projects in close coordination with an already nominated road infrastructure end-user to guarantee a proper implementation with regard to future applications in the course of conducted engineering judgements.
The aspired end product represents the complete workaround of an existing consulting service in the scope of holistic life-cycle management considerations of road infrastructure. The proposed technology leap of the BRIMOS® assessment package leads to very high operative effort in the field of software programming and a close corresponding monitoring of this process