Exeter undergraduate engineer wins research award
17 January 2013An undergraduate engineer at the University of Exeter, has won a regional structural engineering award for his research into using optical fibre sensing to monitor strain within sprayed concrete. Ben Ford, a Costain student, won the competition, the company stated.
Ford researched and tested how optical fibre cables could be used to measure performance within structures, before identifying where improvements in their specification, design and installation could be made. Ford started off by identifying what optical fibre strain monitoring was, how it worked, and what its capabilities were. This was achieved through a review of research papers and discussions with Dr Mohammed Elshafie, who leads the Optical Fibre Sensing Group in the Civils Division at Cambridge University's Engineering Department.
"The monitoring of most structures is currently reliant on maintenance teams performing time consuming and costly visual and manual operations, but the use of optical fibre monitoring systems makes it possible to realise continuous, real time and automatic health monitoring of structures," said Ford. "The technology has the potential to revolutionise the way sprayed concrete tunnels are monitored, but all previous applications of the technology in concrete are based around the optical fibre cables being directly attached to reinforcement within the concrete."
Sarah Buck, chair of the judging panel and a former president of the Institution of Structural Engineers said: "Ben's presentation on the use of fibre optic cables in sprayed concrete particularly impressed the judges. Ben presented his subject confidently and clearly, whilst his response to questions from the judging panel demonstrated his in-depth knowledge of the subject at both a technical and practical level. He is a worthy winner of the first prize of the Devon and Cornwall Regional Group Student Presentation Competition and he is credit to Exeter University and Costain."
Tim Embley, Costain's Group Innovation and Knowledge manager, added: "Innovation is part of Costain's culture and I congratulate Ben on his award. Our research and innovation programme, along with our research partners like Cambridge University, aims to develop innovative solutions to improve our customers' businesses."
