Quantification of the value of monitoring information for deteriorated structures

An efficient structural integrity management of deteriorated structures is of high societal value. Monitoring can be very beneficial as it is well developed with diverse technologies, algorithms and systems. However, the value or the utility of monitoring is seldom quantified and infrastructure owners and operators may be reluctant to invest in large systems for which the benefit is not clearly specified. In order to overcome this issue, recent research efforts (such as e.g. the COST Action TU1402) focus on utilising the Bayesian pre-posterior decision theory (1) to quantify the value of monitoring information and (2) to perform the quantification before implementation of the monitoring system.

This PhD focusses on deteriorated structures such as bridges and wind turbines and the development of monitoring strategies to most efficiently plan the structural integrity management throughout and prolonging the service life. The expected results comprise the documentation of efficient monitoring strategies for deteriorated structures and the quantification of their utility in terms of risk reduction, expected cost reduction and service life benefits for industrial application and for the value of society.

Keywords: damage detection, probabilistic model, value of information, Bayesian decision analysis, deterioration model.
Research fields: engineering decision, risk analysis.

See the profile of ESR12 Lijia Long.

BAM (Berlin, Germany)
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung
Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing

Aalborg University (Denmark)

PhD director: Prof. John Dalsgaard Sørensen (AAU)

36 months
From 01.12.2016 to 30.11.2019

The defence is scheduled for Tuesday 29 June 2021 at 15:00 online. More information

The members of the thesis committee are:

Assessment committee

Assoc. Prof. Lars Damkilde (chairperson), Aalborg University
Prof. Michael D. Todd, University of California San Diego
Prof. Alan O’Connor, Trinity College Dublin

PhD supervisors

Supervisor, Prof. John Dalsgaard Sørensen, Dept. of the Built Environment, Aalborg University
Co-supervisor, Prof. Sebastian Thöns, Lund University

Moderator

Assoc. Prof. Jannie Jannie Sønderkær Nielsen, Dept. of the Built Environment, Aalborg University

Approaches, methods and tools are developed, applied and disseminated for the quantification of the value of monitoring information for highly deteriorated structures.
The objective of this PhD is the identification of monitoring strategies to efficiently manage and to enlarge the service life of deteriorated structures.

Extensive literature study on Value of Information (VoI), decision theory, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), structural integrity management and deteriorated structures.
Further development of approaches and methods for the quantification of monitoring information on the basis of utility and decision theory.
Development of tools for the quantification of the value of monitoring information.
Application of the tools in case studies.
Dissemination of research results and thesis writing.

The expected results comprise the documentation of efficient strategies for monitoring deteriorated structures and the quantification of their utility in terms of risk reduction, expected cost reduction and service life benefits.
The research results are to be disseminated at international conferences and in reviewed scientific journals.

AAU (Aalborg, Denmark)
April & May 2017
The aim of this secondment is to obtain additional scientific input on risk and decision analysis and wind turbine modelling.

COWI (Kongens Lyngby, Denmark)
October 2018 to January 2019
The aim of this secondment is the performance of case studies in the environment of the consulting company COWI.

Thöns S., Schneider R., Faber M.H.
Quantification of the Value of Structural Health Monitoring Information for Fatigue Deteriorating Structural Systems
12th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP12), Vancouver, Canada, 2015
Schneider R., Fischer J., Straub D., Thöns S., Bügler M., Borrmann A.
Intelligent Structures - Prototype for the Condition Assessment and Damage Development Prognosis for Elements of the Bridge Model
Carl Schünemann Verlag GmbH, 2015. ISBN: 978-3-95606-190-5
Thöns S., Faber M.H., Rücker W.
Life Cycle Cost Optimized Monitoring Systems for Offshore Wind Turbine Structures
IRIS Industrial Safety and Life Cycle Engineering: Technologies / Standards / Applications, VCE Vienna Consulting Engineers Zt GmbH, Vienna, Austria, 2013. ISBN: 978-3-200-03179-1

Publications

Long L., Farreras Alcover I., Thöns S.
Quantification of the posterior utilities of SHM campaigns on an orthotropic steel bridge deck
IWSHM 2019, The 12th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Stanford, California, USA, 10-12 September 2019

Long L., Mai A.Q., Thöns S., Sørensen J.D.
On the value of SHM information for the offshore wind turbines
WESC 2019 - Wind Energy Science Conference,Cork, Ireland, 17-20 June 2019

Bayane I., Long L., Thöns S., Brühwiler E.
Quantification of the conditional value of SHM data for the fatigue safety evaluation of a road viaduct
ICASP13, The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering, Seoul, South Korea, 26-30 May 2019

Long L., Thöns S., Döhler M.
The effects of deterioration models on the value of damage detection information
IALCCE 2018, The Sixth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering, Ghent, Belgium, 28-31 October 2018

Long L., Thöns S., Döhler M.
The effects of SHM system parameters on the value of damage detection information
EWSHM 2018, The 9th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Series, Manchester, UK, 10-13 July 2018

Long L., Thöns S., Döhler M.
Damage detection and deteriorating structural systems
IWSHM 2017, The 11th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Stanford, California, USA, 12-14 September 2017

Long L., Alcover F. I., Thöns S.
Utility analysis for SHM durations and service life extension of welds on steel bridge deck
Structure & Infrastructure Engineering Journal, January 2021

Long L., Mai A. Quang., Morato G. P., Sørensen D. J., Thöns S.
On the conditional value of structural and environmental information for offshore wind turbines
Renewable Energy Journal, 2020

Long L., Döhler M., Thöns S.
Determination of structural and damage detection system influencing parameters on the value of information
Structural Health Monitoring Journal, January 2020

Rastayesh S., Long L., Sørensen J.D., Thöns S.
Risk Assessment and Value of Action Analysis for Icing Conditions of Wind Turbines Close to Highways
Energies, Volume 12, Issue 14, 2019

Thöns S., Döhler M., Long L.
On Damage Detection System Information for Structural Systems
Structural Engineering International, Volume 28, Issue 3, pages 255-268, 2018

Quantification of the Value of Monitoring Information for Deteriorated Structures

Outreach activities

ESR12 Lijia Long:

Maintains and updates an individual blog on a regular basis. Read her posts.
Participated in the "PhD retreat".
Participated in the BAM PhD day in 2017 and 2018.
Participated in the "Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Falling Walls Lab".
Recorded a video as done within the so-called Three Minute Thesis (3MT®). Watch the video.