We minimize the CO2 for structural maintenance of buildings based on data.

AI Quick Summary

Over 50% of our buildings do not meet the current structural standards. We cannot afford to replace all of them, and this would be environmentally disastrous. Our solution maximizes the safe life of buildings, and by doing so it minimizes the produced CO2 for structural maintenance.AXA has already committed to test our solution in two buildings. With your support, we will estimate the saved CO2 and accelerate the implementation of our solution at portfolio level, which is necessary to maximize our impact. Over 50% of our buildings in Switzerland and in Europe are over 50 years old and do not meet the current structural standards. Today, structural maintenance relies on limited available drawings and visual inspections that are subjective, time consuming and inconclusive, as they only evaluate the visible and accessible parts of structures. This has two consequences.1. We do not properly retrofit buildings that could be at risk. 2. We conduct heavy maintenance or even replace buildings that are structurally sound and could see their life extended despite reaching their “expiration date”.We cannot afford replacing all obsolete buildings and this is environmentally disastrous, as already today almost 40% of the global emissions are attributed to the construction sector. Therefore, reliable monitoring of the structural condition is the key to get the most out of our buildings. Like medical doctors need to measure the vital signals of a patient to formulate a firm diagnosis, maintenance planners need internal information of the structural condition, to provide reliable assessments and cost-efficient maintenance solutions.This is exactly what we do: our technology relies on commercial vibration sensors that can be seamlessly integrated in new buildings or attached to existing buildings. We measure vibrations due to wind or traffic and translate them into structural health metrics. Based on a limited number of sensors, we:· continuously monitor the global structural integrity.· reduce the uncertainties in structural assessment.· automatize damage assessment after disasters. In the example of a large Swiss hospital building, limited information and the need for continuous operation hindered engineers from reaching a reliable seismic performance assessment. By monitoring vibrations during operation, engineers used our solution to calibrate and improve their simulations and significantly reduce the proposed maintenance costs. Our solution has attracted the interest of key building owners, such as Swiss Prime Site and AXA Immobility services. AXA Immobility services has already committed to providing us with two buildings that without our solution are classified as structurally deficit and in need to be replaced. Our solution will be deployed to optimize maintenance and potentially avoid the unnecessary replacement of these buildings. This translates to significant financial savings for the owner and minimal CO2 emissions, without compromising safety. While AXA is committed to pay for the data-driven structural evaluation there is no budget for the estimation of the sustainability impact of our solution. In this regard, the support of the CBI booster will provide us with the necessary funds to proceed with such an evaluation. Also, the network of sustainability experts that CBI booster will introduce us to will fundamentally support us on designing and executing this mission. The outcome of this project will be a practical demonstrator of our impact in terms of saved CO2 emissions, applied in two real buildings. This proof of concept will accelerate the implementation of our solution at building portfolio level and will maximize our impact. We are a dynamic team of experts in Structural Health Monitoring, Structural Engineering and Data Science. Our core team brings 4 PhDs and over 20 years of experience in monitoring. We have significantly contributed to the research community through over 110 scientific papers that we have published in top scientific journals and conferences. Our technical solution has already been validated in real buildings and bridges and with your support we will quantify the massive sustainability impact that we produce. This will enable the broad establishment of data-based structural evaluation of buildings and will make our Swiss-made solution a global pioneer for optimal maintenance planning of existing buildings.

Project Idea Metadata

• Project Idea Name: We minimize the CO2 for structural maintenance of buildings based on data.
• Date: 9/3/2023 3:56:00 PM
• Administrators:
  • Panagiotis Martakis

Project Idea Description

Over 50% of our buildings in Switzerland and in Europe are over 50 years old and do not meet the current structural standards. Today, structural maintenance relies on limited available drawings and visual inspections that are subjective, time consuming and inconclusive, as they only evaluate the visible and accessible parts of structures. This has two consequences.

1. We do not properly retrofit buildings that could be at risk.

2. We conduct heavy maintenance or even replace buildings that are structurally sound and could see their life extended despite reaching their “expiration date”.

We cannot afford replacing all obsolete buildings and this is environmentally disastrous, as already today almost 40% of the global emissions are attributed to the construction sector. Therefore, reliable monitoring of the structural condition is the key to get the most out of our buildings. Like medical doctors need to measure the vital signals of a patient to formulate a firm diagnosis, maintenance planners need internal information of the structural condition, to provide reliable assessments and cost-efficient maintenance solutions.

This is exactly what we do: our technology relies on commercial vibration sensors that can be seamlessly integrated in new buildings or attached to existing buildings. We measure vibrations due to wind or traffic and translate them into structural health metrics. Based on a limited number of sensors, we:

· continuously monitor the global structural integrity.

· reduce the uncertainties in structural assessment.

· automatize damage assessment after disasters.

In the example of a large Swiss hospital building, limited information and the need for continuous operation hindered engineers from reaching a reliable seismic performance assessment. By monitoring vibrations during operation, engineers used our solution to calibrate and improve their simulations and significantly reduce the proposed maintenance costs. Our solution has attracted the interest of key building owners, such as Swiss Prime Site and AXA Immobility services. AXA Immobility services has already committed to providing us with two buildings that without our solution are classified as structurally deficit and in need to be replaced. Our solution will be deployed to optimize maintenance and potentially avoid the unnecessary replacement of these buildings. This translates to significant financial savings for the owner and minimal CO2 emissions, without compromising safety.

While AXA is committed to pay for the data-driven structural evaluation there is no budget for the estimation of the sustainability impact of our solution. In this regard, the support of the CBI booster will provide us with the necessary funds to proceed with such an evaluation. Also, the network of sustainability experts that CBI booster will introduce us to will fundamentally support us on designing and executing this mission. The outcome of this project will be a practical demonstrator of our impact in terms of saved CO2 emissions, applied in two real buildings. This proof of concept will accelerate the implementation of our solution at building portfolio level and will maximize our impact.

We are a dynamic team of experts in Structural Health Monitoring, Structural Engineering and Data Science. Our core team brings 4 PhDs and over 20 years of experience in monitoring. We have significantly contributed to the research community through over 110 scientific papers that we have published in top scientific journals and conferences. Our technical solution has already been validated in real buildings and bridges and with your support we will quantify the massive sustainability impact that we produce. This will enable the broad establishment of data-based structural evaluation of buildings and will make our Swiss-made solution a global pioneer for optimal maintenance planning of existing buildings.

Over 50% of our buildings do not meet the current structural standards. We cannot afford to replace all of them, and this would be environmentally disastrous. Our solution maximizes the safe life of buildings, and by doing so it minimizes the produced CO2 for structural maintenance.

AXA has already committed to test our solution in two buildings. With your support, we will estimate the saved CO2 and accelerate the implementation of our solution at portfolio level, which is necessary to maximize our impact.