Innovation Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction

112fd896-9250-4c16-8a34-a72705f0ef02

Closed

EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£24,781,595

March 31, 2011

Sept. 30, 2016

Infrastructure is a large part of the UK's assets. Efficient management and maintenance of infrastructure are vital to the economy and society. The application of emerging technologies to advanced health monitoring of existing critical infrastructure assets will quantify and define the extent of ageing and the consequent remaining design life of infrastructure, thereby reducing the risk of failure. Emerging technologies will also transform the industry through a whole-life approach to achieving sustainability in construction and infrastructure in an integrated way - design and commissioning, the construction process, exploitation and use, and eventual de-commissioning. Crucial elements of these emerging technologies will be the application of the latest sensor technologies, data management tools and manufacturing processes to the construction industry, both during infrastructure construction and throughout its design life. There will be a very substantial market for exploitation of these technologies by the construction industry, particularly contractors, specialist instrumentation companies and owners of infrastructure.In this proposal, we seek to create the Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction that will bring together four leading research groups in the Cambridge Engineering Department and the Computer Laboratory (sensors, computing, manufacturing engineering and civil engineering), along with staff in other faculties - the Judge Business School and the Department of Architecture. The Centre will develop and commercialise emerging technologies which will provide radical changes in the construction and management of infrastructure, leading to considerably enhanced efficiencies, economies and adaptability. We propose to create 'Smart Infrastructure' with the following attributes: (a) minimal disturbance and maximum efficiency during construction, (b) minimal maintenance for new infrastructure and optimum management of existing infrastructure, (c) minimal failures even during extreme events (fire, natural hazards, climate change), and (d) minimal waste materials at the end of the life cycle. The IKC will focus on the innovative use of emerging technologies in sensor and data management (e.g. fibre optics, MEMS, computer vision, power harvesting, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Wireless Sensor Networks). These will be coupled with emerging best practice in the form of the latest manufacturing and supply chain management approaches applied to construction and infrastructure (e.g. smart building components for life-cycle adaptive design, innovative manufacturing processes, integrated supply chain management, and smart management processes from building to city scales). It will aim to develop completely new markets and achieve breakthroughs in performance.The business opportunities in construction and infrastructure are very considerable, not only for construction companies but also for other industries such as IT, electronics and materials. The IKC is designed to respond directly and systematically to the input received from industry partners on what is required to address this issue. Through the close involvement of industry in technical development as well as in demonstrations in real construction projects, the commercialisation activities of emerging technologies will be progressed during the project to a point where they can be licensed to industry. The outputs of the IKC will provide the construction industry, infrastructure owners and operators with the means to ensure that very challenging new performance targets can be met. Furthermore the potential breakthroughs will make the industry more efficient and hence more profitable. They will also give UK companies a competitive advantage in the increasingly global construction market.

Potential Impact:
The total value of existing civil engineering works in the UK is 800 billion. It is estimated that the UK will need to spend in the region of 400 billion on new and refurbished infrastructure by 2020 in order to address historic underinvestment and speed the transition to a low carbon economy. Since infrastructure is a large part of the UK's assets, it is vital to the economy and to society that efficient management and maintenance of infrastructure should be an ongoing commitment. The construction industry accounts for a significant proportion of the national GDP and both government and industry have been pushing an agenda aimed at improving the efficiency and quality of delivery of all constructed facilities. In addition, the industry accounts for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly as a result of cement and steel production, and an entirely new approach to optimal use of resources is needed and being demanded by the UK government. Radical changes in the construction industry are needed, leading to dramatic improvements in a wide range of key performance indicators for the industry, not least of which is productivity as well as competiveness for UK industry in a global market. The proposed IKC will make the following impacts: (a) The IKC will foster scientific research in the application and adoption of emerging smart technologies to develop a new academic network in the area of Smart Infrastructure and Construction. (b) Systemisation, standardisation, and ultimately optimisation of construction processes. This will lead to a common systems architecture for construction, allowing transformation from 'one-off' projects to 'service oriented customisable construction factories' with clear commercial and economic benefit. (c) Creation of a 'living structure' which can be continually evaluated and thereby its performance and operation systematically assessed and improved over time. This will be done by constructing infrastructure composed of 'smart' building blocks (eg embedded fibre optic sensors, MEMS sensors and RFID). (d) Reconsideration of infrastructure design and construction in order to provide maximal future proofing through reconfigurability. The need for flexibility in infrastructure systems stems from considerable uncertainty about the scale of cost of, and demand on, that infrastructure, in the light of technological developments as well as changing government policies, macro-economics, demographics, and social behaviour. (e) Quantification of the extent of ageing and the consequent remaining design life of UK infrastructure, using emerging technologies, so that the risk of systemic failure will be reduced and public services improved. Infrastructure owners, both in the public and private sectors, and operators will have the means to ensure that very challenging new performance targets can be met and large cost savings can be made to maintain such assets. (f) Development of new skilled work forces that will realize the step changes addressed in the proposal and will make the construction and infrastructure industry more efficient and hence more profitable. It will reinvigorate the industry to adopt technologies and management methods that will rival other manufacturing sectors such as the aerospace and automotive industries. The construction and infrastructure industry will be more sustainable and competitive, thereby improving the environment, the economy and benefits to society.