Construct

TL4 - Transport and renewable energy infrastructures

R&D plays a key role in the EU strategy to fight climate changes, especially in the two most polluting sectors, the energy supply and transport, which represent 25% and 21% of the CO2 emissions in the EU, respectively. TL4 aims to contribute to this topic through the following axes:

a) Structural Health Monitoring methodologies:

  • New generation of sensors for SHM with special focus to low-cost wireless sensors
  • Innovative SHM frameworks for civil engineering structures supported by ML and Data Science merged with data derived from computer-vision systems installed on UAVs
  • New methods for damage detection in railway infrastructures and cable structures
  • Damage-Sensitive Features combining different sources of monitoring datae. Development of SHM guidelines

b) Transport infrastructures:

  • Methodologies for predicting fatigue damage in existing bridges
  • Predictive maintenance of railway infrastructures through onboard monitoring systems and noise and vibration analysis
  • Address open issues in the railway bridge dynamics related standards
  • Geotechnical research on tunnels, transition-zones, embankments and earth retaining structures

c) Energy infrastructures:

  • Monitoring, modelling and conceptual design of onshore and offshore floating wind turbines
  • Definition of KPIs for the continuous monitoring of concrete dams
  • Sustainable reconversion of decommissioned energy polluting infrastructures
  • Geotechnical research in nearshore and offshore wind farm foundations and energy storage underground infrastructures

Principal Investigators
Prof. Pedro Costa (pacosta@fe.up.pt)
Prof. Carlos Moutinho (moutinho@fe.up.pt)