INNOVATION March-April 2016

poorly compared to conventional construction materials. Life cycle assessment needs to be applied to materials and structures as a whole to determine the environmental impacts of products, processes and services, through production, usage, and disposal. Consideration of expected life and impact on the environment will help determine materials’ and structures’ true sustainability. Canada is a developed country and our infrastructure deficit is in the billions of dollars. A substantial amount of future work will focus on repair and rehabilitation of structures. This will require concerted effort from multiple engineering disciplines. Repair and rehabilitation of structures is made more challenging during times of economic downturn and in locations like BC, where the seismic risk needs to be studied carefully. However, the need for more information about material durability’s influences on structural design life is beginning to be addressed. At the University of Victoria, for example, a new Facility for Innovative Materials and Infrastructure Monitoring (FIMIM) will focus first on developing sustainable and innovative materials with full understanding of their relevant mechanical characteristics and long-term properties. We will be working to develop, for example, cement-based composites that are “crack- free” with the ability to self-seal any cracks that develop over a period of time, and have high energy-absorption capacity and fracture resistance; these properties can be useful for improving structure resiliency. The facility will also assist infrastructure owners and operators to evaluate the condition of infrastructure, which is an imperative task prior to developing a repair strategy either for seismic retrofitting or after environmental events such as earthquakes. The facility will house state-of-the-art non- destructive evaluation techniques and structural health monitoring (SHM) capabilities for this purpose. Structural health monitoring is a key requirement for determining how material durability and aspects of design affects infrastructure life. Whether it be with new construction or repaired infrastructure, SHM is being more commonly specified in projects. It typically involves use of sensors that provide insight into both the short-term load effects on structures and the long-term effects of the environment. It should be noted that properly installed sensors with accurate interpretation of sensor data can also be effectively used to study the residual capacity of structures after exposure to events such as earthquakes. One of the projects funded by IC–IMPACTS will allow the

research team based out of the FIMIM to implement non- contact techniques on infrastructure both in India and Canada that can complement use of sensors for SHM. Dr. Rishi Gupta, P.Eng., is a faculty member in the University of Victoria’s (UVic) new Department of Civil Engineering. His current research focuses on the early-age properties and plastic shrinkage of cement-based composites containing supplementary cementing materials and fibres. Areas of interest include sustainable construction technologies and the behavior of masonry structures, structural health monitoring, and non-destructive testing. Dr. Gupta currently serves as the chair of the international affairs committee of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) and is the officiating liaison for India. He is also treasurer of CSCE’s western region and faculty advisor for the student chapter at UVic.

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