Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Canada and other nations rely heavily on pipe, road and rail infrastructure to transport the people and goods needed for economic and social well-being. While Civil Engineering researchers have previously focused on understanding behaviour of new structures, they are now undertaking a protracted effort to establish the behaviour of deteriorated infrastructure and to develop rehabilitation methods that minimize costs while maintaining safety and performance. Complex combinations of geometry and materials in damaged and repaired systems introduce challenges not present in new systems, and decisions to replace or repair based on 'new structure' concepts can generate unnecessary expenditures or compromise safety. Railways also face huge maintenance costs, and can benefit greatly from better understanding of track behaviour. Drs Moore, Hoult and Take lead some of the world's most vigorous and consequential research programs into buried pipe systems, railway track, and bridge performance. The `next generation` fibre optic system being requested will provide many closely-spaced measurements of strain along bridge and track components, or along and around water pipes, sewers and culverts. This allows peak responses to be captured even when geometrical and material complexity makes it impossible to identify locations of peak responses prior to testing. The equipment i. provides the high frequency measurements needed to understand rail-track and bridge dynamics under moving trains and trucks; ii. captures strength limits during tests on buried pipes under constant deformation or loading rates; iii. automates scanning of multiple fibre optic cables attached to the same structure; iv. is much simpler to use compared to previous equipment, so fibre optic sensors can be deployed during many more of the >100 buried pipe tests performed at Queen`s each year. The requested equipment will initially support the training of 8 MAScs, 5 PhDs and 1 PDF; these and many subsequent HQP will benefit as they monitor and elucidate behaviour of buried pipes and bridges tested in unique buried pipe and moving load facilities at Queen's, and bridges and rail structures in the field.