Applus+ monitors the structural health of rail bridges in coordination with Calsens in the Community of Valencia, Spain

This new service offered by Applus+ has been created in response to the existing requirement in the sector to prevent and evaluate situations of structural risk, both during the construction phase and the service phase of any type of structure.

As a leader in the global TIC sector, Applus+ has partnered Calsens for their specialisms in the design, manufacture, installation and tracking of structure-monitoring systems using fibre-optic technology.

The application of photonic technology in these projects allows a large volume of data to be collected and read safely and precisely, thanks to the sensors implanted in the bridges, which send  the parameter data to be measured through optical fibre in real time to the control centre at Calsens.

Here, the data is processed and interpreted to create a continuous control system throughout the life cycle of the asset. With this asset-monitoring system, those parameters and points of the structure that are critical for interpreting their behaviour can be assessed in real-time, and the structural response is evaluated at every section, and especially, at every pass of a train.

The project was served by multidisciplinary civil and telecommunications engineers and experts in the area of information technology, which could be successfully applied in many other sectors. This innovative monitoring system also offers wide benefits because it provides knowlede on the operating conditions of an asset, for the implementation of the appropriate maintenance plans, which increases safety and ensures structural sustainability over the long term.

At Applus+, we continue to evolve and adapt our services to the new technological requirements of the sector, and to deliver this, we have a global team of professionals with extensive experience and capability that allows us to deliver high quality work for each client in very short time frames.