Building a more sustainable world

In 2010, Professor Lord Robert Mair, founder of Cambridge’s Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC), saw an opportunity to use the latest ideas in sensing technologies and apply them to infrastructure.

“At the time, sensors were being widely used in sectors such as aerospace, so that engineers knew how every bit of their assets were performing at all times.”

“However, the same could not be said of the world of infrastructure. Kenichi Soga (now a professor at University of California, Berkeley) and I could see that these sensing technologies would allow us to understand how vital assets are performing – and if remedial action needs to be taken.”

In 2011, CSIC was established in Cambridge with funding from Innovate UK, EPSRC and 28 industry partners, including prime mover and supporter, Arup.

From it emerged new methods and techniques to use distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) for monitoring civil infrastructure. DFOS transformed the way changes in strain and temperature are measured, making it possible to assess the engineering performance of structures such as foundation piles, tunnels, retaining walls, pipelines and bridges.

The development of DFOS was a key pillar of the new Centre’s activities, and one in which Arup had a key role. Mair said: “As a leader in the field, Arup has always been wedded to the importance of measurement and they have been hugely instrumental in both the development and deployment of the DFOS technology.”

Jennifer Schooling, former Director of CSIC (now at Anglia Ruskin University), explained why working with Arup was so instrumental in the development of DFOS.

“Doing good science is one thing, but we needed help to turn it into something that’s useable by industry. That’s where Arup came in, helping us to codify how DFOS should be used in practice and working with their clients to show them its benefits. The intellectual ‘oomph’ was very much a joint effort between Arup and Cambridge.”