UNM Bridge Research
Test set-up of the 1:5 scaled TPG at the Chinese Earthquake Administration in China.
Connecting wires;
improving an industry Understanding the needs of railroads drives bridge-related research at the University of New Mexico Compiled by Dr. Fernando Moreu, edited by Mischa Wanek-Libman. All photos courtesy of the University of New Mexico.
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he University of New Mexico (UNM) established the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab) in August 2015, under Director Dr. Fernando Moreu, PE, who says the lab offers UNM students a blend of practice and research to prepare for professions in the rail industry. Moreu is an assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at The University of New Mexico and he also has a courtesy appointment in electrical and computer engineering. The SMILab focus is on bridge engineering design and dynamics, civil infrastructure maintenance and deterioration monitoring and assessment in general. “UNM seeks to develop the use of nextgeneration smart sensing technologies and strategies in monitoring and testing dynamic and complex engineering problems and railroads definitely qualify for 22 Railway Track & Structures // September 2018
dynamic and complex,” said Moreu. Prior to getting his doctorate degree, Moreu worked in consulting engineering for more than 10 years, mostly focused in structural design and construction of bridges and structures. He is a registered professional engineer. His exposure to both industry, design and construction informs his research interests and publications. As a consultant to railroads such as the Canadian National (CN), BNSF and other railroad companies, Moreu found the industry’s top priority was safety. Consequently, the innovations he now conducts at the University of New Mexico are both practical and somewhat outside the norm. “If I wanted to do research as usual, I would have not taken the risks I took. Additionally, students perform better when they have to work on non-conventional solutions,” explained Moreu. The most unique component of SMILab
is that the owner’s needs inform the research directions. In April 2018, Moreu and two of his graduate students, Dilendra Maharjan and Marlon Frank Aguero, travelled to Fort Worth, Texas, to conduct a workshop. This workshop was sponsored by the Transportation Consortium of South Central States (TranSET) http://transet.lsu.edu/ and was part of the project, “Development, Training, Education, and Implementation of Low-Cost Sensing Technologies for Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (SHM).” The students helped organized logistics for the workshop and prepared survey documents that were handed out to the participants. The objectives of the workshop were to discuss with stakeholders the prioritization of developing needs towards application and implementation of new sensing technologies, devices or innovations in current inspection and maintenance practices. New technologies discussed included, but where not limited to: rtands.com