Dr. Scott Walbridge

P.Eng. (Alberta)

Assistant Professor

Research Group:

 Motivation:

Metal and metal composite structures currently comprise a significant portion of our existing civil and industrial infrastructure. These structures present significant and interesting maintenance challenges due to the various ways that they can deteriorate over time. In order to ensure that they continue to provide adequate levels of safety and service, while at the same time reducing their life-cycle costs, fundamental research is required to develop better methods and technologies for the assessment and repair of these structures. In conjunction with research on assessment and repair, research is also needed to ensure that the future use of metals in structures targets applications where their advantages can be best exploited and their life-cycle costs minimized with a view towards maximizing the benefit of their use to society.

 Mission Statement:

To conduct advanced fundamental and applied research with the primary goals of:

1) developing new methods and technologies for the assessment and repair of  damaged or deteriorating metal structures,

2) developing new solutions employing metals for the temporary or rapid replacement of other damaged or deteriorating civil or industrial infrastructure, and

3) investigating the influence of decisions made at the design stage on the durability and maintenance-related life-cycle costs of metal structures.

 Activities:

The main activities of the research group can be categorized as follows:

1) laboratory testing of new methods and technologies for the assessment and repair of metal structures, in conjunction with the development and verification of analytical models that can be used to explain and further extend the test results,

2) development of design provisions, so that engineers can incorporate these new methods and technologies into their maintenance programs, and

3) economic analysis of these new methods and technologies to identify conditions under which their use would result in reduced life-cycle costs.