DEVELOPING A GRADUATE COURSE ON STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING OF CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE

The urban civil infrastructure in the modem cities is in dire need of continual renewal and the current maintenance and rehabilitation measures are not able to cope with the need because of funding and resource constraints. Innovative materials like fibre reinforced polymer, high strength concrete, and fibre reinforced concrete along with new construction technologies, are key factors in infrastructure repair or replacement in an economically viable manner. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system is an important part of the long-term maintenance of an important structure, or a structure repaired or built with innovative construction method or materials. As SHM systems are being implemented for many such projects, demand for skilled professionals in this area is growing. Training and education on SHM will perhaps be more effective if it starts at the university level. For that reason, a course on SHM has been designed to initiate graduate and senior undergraduate students to the concepts of SHM so that, when they join the workforce, they can build on the fundamental principles in SHM and related technologies they have learnt, and take the leadership roles in this area in the future. It has been successfully offered recently at Concordia University and this paper discusses the experience and challenges faced in delivering the course.