The Role of Futureproofing in the Management of Infrastructural Assets

Ensuring long-term value from infrastructure is essential for a sustainable economy. In this context, futureproofing involves addressing two broad issues: i. Ensuring the ability of infrastructure to be resilient to unexpected or uncontrollable events e.g. extreme weather events; and ii. Ensuring the ability to adapt to required changes in structure and / or operations of the infrastructure in the future e.g. expansion of capacity, change in usage mode or volumes. Increasingly, in their respective roles, infrastructure designers/builders and owners/operators are being required to develop strategies for futureproofing as part of the life cycle planning for key assets and systems that make up infrastructure. In this paper, we report on a preliminary set of studies aimed at exploring the following issues related to infrastructure / infrastructure systems: • What is intended by the futureproofing of infrastructural assets? • Why and when to futureproof critical infrastructure? • How can infrastructure assets and systems be prepared for uncertain futures? • How can futureproofing be incorporated into asset management practice? In order to seek answers to the above questions, the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) has conducted two industrial workshops bringing together leading practitioners in the UK infrastructure and construction sectors, along with government policy makers. This paper provides an initial summary of the findings from the workshops (part presentation, part working sessions), and proposes a simple framework for linking futureproofing into broader asset management considerations. To begin, an overview of futureproofing and motivate the need for futureproofing infrastructure assets is provided. Following this, an approach to futureproofing infrastructure portfolios is presented that organisations in the infrastructure sector can use. Key barriers to futureproofing are also presented before examining the ISO 55001 asset management standard to highlight the interplay between futureproofing and infrastructural asset management. Finally, different ways by which an effective futureproofing strategy can enhance the value of infrastructure are examined

Design and development of BIM models to support operations and maintenance

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most significant technological advancements in recent years that has been adopted by the design and construction industry. While BIM adoption is growing, it can be witnessed that adoption is relatively weak within operational and maintenance (O&M) organisations such as estate and infrastructure management, who would ultimately gain the highest value of utilising BIM. While the challenges of BIM adaptation are multifaceted, there is a recurring theme of poor data integration between BIM and existing information management systems. There is a clear gap of knowledge on how to structure a BIM model that allows for efficient use within the O&M phase. Furthermore, there are no standard processes that allow for the exchange from a BIM model into an Asset Information Model (AIM). This paper outlines a process that enables extraction of BIM related data directly from a model into a relational database for integration within existing engineering asset management information management systems. The paper describes the BIM model requirements, development of the extraction platform, database architecture and framework. Furthermore, a case study is presented that demonstrates the methodology. The case study shows that if the BIM model is designed from the start with consideration for the O&M requirements, it can be exploited for development into an AIM. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a structured approach to object classification within a BIM model support the efficient exchange of data directly from the BIM mode

A Building Information Modelling approach to the alignment of organisational objectives to Asset Information Requirements

It is critical that an asset-centric organisation understand the importance of their engineered assets to operate successfully. Despite this, organisations struggle to view assets within the context of whole- life management and ultimately struggle to harness the full potential value. A recurring theme is the challenges in capturing, storing and validating data across a diverse and complex asset portfolio. The primary reason for this is the fundamental lack of understanding of what information should be collected to support the efficient management of assets throughout their life. Asset-related information that is not collected in alignment to the organisational requirements will restrict the performance of capital investment decisions, risk management and operational performance throughout the whole life of the asset portfolio and ultimately have an impact on productivity. This paper presents a top-down methodology that utilises Building Information Modelling to support the development of asset Information Requirements, the novel aspect of this approach is the development of Functional Information Requirements to bridge the gap between organisational requirements and asset information requirements.This research was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Costain Plc through an Industrial CASE Award. The authors also thank the support of the EPSRC Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction as well as the Centre for Digital Built Britain

From BIM towards digital twin: Strategy and future development for smart asset management

With the rising adoption of Building Information Model (BIM) for asset management within architecture, engineering, construction and owner-operated (AECO) sector, BIM-enabled asset management has been increasingly attracting more attentions in both research and practice. This study provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the state-of-the-art latest research and industry standards development that impact upon BIM and asset management within the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase. However, BIM is not always enough in whole-life cycle asset management, especially in the O&M phase. Therefore, a framework for future development of smart asset management is proposed, integrating the concept of Digital Twin (DT). DT integrates artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to create dynamic digital models that are able to learn and update the status of the physical counterpart from multiple sources. The findings will contribute to inspiring novel research ideas and promote widespread adoption of smart DT-enabled asset management within the O&M phase

Exploring resilient observability in traffic-monitoring sensor networks: A study of spatial-temporal vehicle patterns

Vehicle mobility generates dynamic and complex patterns that are associated with our day-to-day activities in cities. To reveal the spatial–temporal complexity of such patterns, digital techniques, such as traffic-monitoring sensors, provide promising data-driven tools for city managers and urban planners. Although a large number of studies have been dedicated to investigating the sensing power of the traffic-monitoring sensors, there is still a lack of exploration of the resilient performance of sensor networks when multiple sensor failures occur. In this paper, we reveal the dynamic patterns of vehicle mobility in Cambridge, UK, and subsequently, explore the resilience of the sensor networks. The observability is adopted as the overall performance indicator to depict the maximum number of vehicles captured by the deployed sensors in the study area. By aggregating the sensor networks according to weekday and weekend and simulating random sensor failures with different recovery strategies, we found that (1) the day-to-day vehicle mobility pattern in this case study is highly dynamic and decomposed journey durations follow a power-law distribution on the tail section; (2) such temporal variation significantly affects the observability of the sensor network, causing its overall resilience to vary with different recovery strategies. The simulation results further suggest that a corresponding prioritization for recovering the sensors from massive failures is required, rather than a static sequence determined by the first-fail–first-repair principle. For stakeholders and decision-makers, this study provides insightful implications for understanding city-scale vehicle mobility and the resilience of traffic-monitoring sensor networks.This research is supported by the Ove Arup Foundation (Digital Cities for Change) and was conducted at the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) at the University of Cambridge

Testosterone therapy and cardiovascular events among men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomized trials

Background Testosterone therapy is increasingly promoted. No randomized placebo-controlled trial has been implemented to assess the effect of testosterone therapy on cardiovascular events, although very high levels of androgens are thought to promote cardiovascular disease. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of placebo-controlled randomized trials of testosterone therapy among men lasting 12+ weeks reporting cardiovascular-related events. We searched PubMed through the end of 2012 using “(“testosterone” or “androgen”) and trial and (“random*”)” with the selection limited to studies of men in English, supplemented by a bibliographic search of the World Health Organization trial registry. Two reviewers independently searched, selected and assessed study quality with differences resolved by consensus. Two statisticians independently abstracted and analyzed data, using random or fixed effects models, as appropriate, with inverse variance weighting. Results Of 1,882 studies identified 27 trials were eligible including 2,994, mainly older, men who experienced 180 cardiovascular-related events. Testosterone therapy increased the risk of a cardiovascular-related event (odds ratio (OR) 1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09 to 2.18). The effect of testosterone therapy varied with source of funding (P-value for interaction 0.03), but not with baseline testosterone level (P-value for interaction 0.70). In trials not funded by the pharmaceutical industry the risk of a cardiovascular-related event on testosterone therapy was greater (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.34 to 3.17) than in pharmaceutical industry funded trials (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.50 to 1.60). Conclusions The effects of testosterone on cardiovascular-related events varied with source of funding. Nevertheless, overall and particularly in trials not funded by the pharmaceutical industry, exogenous testosterone increased the risk of cardiovascular-related events, with corresponding implications for the use of testosterone therapy

Liver Enzymes and Risk of Ischemic Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Mendelian Randomization Study

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