Infrastructure

TNO is working on a coherent collection of technologies to assess the existing infrastructure and optimise its maintenance and replacement:

Lifetime extension. With a clear picture of the future and better information about the current and future condition of the assets, infrastructure operators have much to gain.

Monitoring and traffic load. Monitoring of civil engineering structures, roads and railways helps to determine the current situation more accurately and sometimes even more cheaply. By using the measurement data as input for a predictive model, more accurate insight into residual lifetime is obtained. In other words: measure, predict and decide.

Safety and risk analysis of the infrastructure (probabilistic). This includes research and innovation in the field of water safety, tunnel safety, structural safety and the investigation of the actual traffic load on civil engineering structures.

Sustainable infrastructure. By looking at the environmental performance of road and civil engineering structures, by developing innovations for roads and concrete, and by developing solutions that map out or reduce noise and vibration hindrance. TNO believes that CO₂ emissions can be reduced by at least 40%.

Lab testing and damage investigation. In our MEC Building Lab, we have the resources to carry out research on samples under controlled conditions. In addition, we conduct regular damage assessments in the field.

Application areas

TNO is committed to extending the safe lifetime of infrastructure across the board. The most important areas of application are:

Steel civil engineering structures. We work on extending the lifetime, calculating realistic traffic loads and monitoring and improving steel structures.

Concrete structures. We also apply the same combination of techniques to concrete structures.

Water structures and water safety. We use our knowledge of risk approach and methods in studies of locks and other wet civil engineering structures. We use our knowledge of construction and materials to assess structures and develop innovations.

Asphalt and road construction. By developing innovative asphalt, monitoring roads, devising solutions for joints and realising joint constructions and methods that ensure better assessment of asphalt.

Railways. We are working on monitoring rails and overhead lines, limiting noise and vibration hindrances, and investigating bridges and viaducts.

Tunnels. Providing specialist knowledge for the specific issues of tunnels, for example in the field of safety. We also contribute to the implementation of legislation and regulations.

Pipelines. Gas pipelines, district heating, water pipelines, oil pipelines, pressurised sewers, underground high-voltage lines – all run the risk of being damaged by subsidence. TNO is using sensors and simulation models to survey the quality of these underground pipelines for asset managers.

Dikes. Specific solutions for monitoring dikes have been developed within the framework of the IJkdijk programme.