Sustainable Infrastructure

"Deteriorating Infrastructure"

The public expects safety, reliability and longevity of public infrastructure. However, roads, bridges, dams, pipelines, power grids, and public buildings are deteriorating. McGill University recently estimated that if current municipal investment is not increased, over $200 billion will be required to refurbish Canada's "built environment". Transportation system maintenance significantly impacts the productivity of industry depending on just in time delivery, and new highway construction has serious environmental consequences. The engineering response has been to construct new infrastructure with ever-stronger materials, and rehabilitate degraded structures with advanced composite materials; the actual strengths of these latter structures are unknown. The research group has expertise in Materials and Structures, Geomatics, Electronics, Corrosion, and Environment.

Research will be to assess the behavior of full-scale structural elements involving both new and rehabilitation technologies. Small scale testing of structural components utilizing high performance concretes, advanced composite materials (ACM's) and pre-stressing techniques occurs worldwide. Developments are applied to public structures even though the size effects of these materials and techniques are unknown. For example, engineers are designing structural columns that can carry 100 MN loads with high strength concretes. Concrete strength is assessed on small cylinders. It is common knowledge that size effects are known to occur in material and structural testing. Size effects for high strength materials are unknown as no one has the facilities to test full-scale elements. If high strength structures are over-designed, significant savings can accrue. If the structures are under-designed, new design methodologies will need to be developed. Only with the addition of full-scale testing can many of the current uncertainties regarding the use of new technologies be answered.

Smart technologies will equip new or rehabilitated structures with sensors that can provide Municipalities, Provincial and Federal agencies with information on deterioration and structural stresses affecting the safety and service life of the structure. Researchers are developing technologies based on fibre optics, lasers, multiplexing, and telemetry; the objective is to allow engineers to obtain immediate information on the state of the structure from their office, without site visits or destructive testing. CCIT researchers with expertise in IT and navigation will develop additional sensors and the requisite algorithms for visualizing the information.