Smart City Rehabilitation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

SMART CITY REHABILITATION In the past six years, the applicant's research activities in construction and asset management have resulted in significant contributions to the field as shown by: (1) a large number of refereed publications with students and co-workers; (2) one patent; (3) graduation of 6 Ph.D. and 1 Master's students; and (4) extensive technology transfer to industry through private consultation, workshops, and computer programs for use by educators and professionals. The research proposed for the next five years is a continuation of the applicant's work and aims to introduce new advancements to smart city initiatives to address the needs of a large portion of infrastructure assets (79% in Canada) that are old and require costly rehabilitation. The research will seek innovations in four main areas: (1) Developing a strategic simulation model to examine the long-term influences of policies (e.g., budget levels and sustainability requirements) on backlog accumulation and long-term infrastructure performance; (2) Developing intelligent procedures for fast and automated performance assessment of building components using image analysis and machine learning methods; (3) Developing a framework for multi-year life cycle optimization to maximize the value gained from the limited rehabilitation dollars; and (4) Developing an advanced scheduling and project control model to support effective delivery of rehabilitation programs considering deadlines and budget constraints. The direct outcome of the research is a generic smart infrastructure rehabilitation framework with a computerized prototype that suits educational facilities and can be adapted to other infrastructure assets. The integration of strategic and operational dimensions is unique in this research and will support decisions of which, when, and how to renew facilities to maximize the return on rehabilitation spending. The proposed fundamental research supports developing better infrastructure management policies and implementation tools, thus ultimately leading to backlog reduction, improved sustainability, smarter Canadian cities, and higher competitive advantage of Canadian infrastructure management companies.