17-22085 - Satellite Monitoring of Highway Bridges for Performance Management in the Context of Climate Change (17-22085)

Closing date extended to Jan 3rd 2018 at 2:00 PM

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Satellite Monitoring of Highway Bridges for Performance Management in the Context of Climate Change

Background

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the Earth, with global changes in temperature, precipitation and wind patterns, and increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as heat waves, storms, and floods. These climatic changes threaten the integrity and sustainability of transportation infrastructure, for which they were not designed. In this context, there is a need to develop and implement innovative monitoring technologies for major transportation facilities to allow performance monitoring and provide advance warnings of pending failures due to severe weather events. Data-driven decision-support tools are also required to assist transportation engineers and owners to better plan maintenance and rehabilitation, or to help taking urgent decisions on closure, emergency repair or replacement after an extreme event.

InSAR remote sensing of highway bridges is proposed to address the above needs by using Canada’s RadarSat-2 satellite to detect excessive movements over time on critical infrastructure facilities and their immediate surroundings. The application of InSAR remote sensing was recently validated in Canada on the Seaway International Bridge in Cornwall (ON) by a partnership between NRC, Federal Bridge Corporation, and Transport Canada, where InSAR results were compared to field sensor measurements and numerical modelling. This technology can be further validated on additional highway bridges in other regions with different climate patterns. It is also proposed to adapt existing or develop decision-support tools based on radar satellite data to assist bridge engineers in maintenance planning and performance management in the context of climate change.

nrc scope of work

YEAR 1 – Improvement and further validation of InSAR remote sensing on Seaway International Bridge

YEAR 2 – Approach generalization and implementation to other major highway bridges in different regions

YEARS 3 and 4 – Adaptation and development of InSAR-based decision-support tools for maintenance planning and performance management (outside the scope of this 2-year RFP)

Required work from contractor

Under an on-going NRC umbrella-project entitled ²Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure² funded by Infrastructure Canada (INFC), NRC needs to contract professional services to perform the following tasks for Years 1 and 2 of a specific 4-year project entitled ²Satellite Monitoring of Highway Bridges for Performance Management in the Context of Climate Change².

Important note

– This RFP concerns Years 1 and 2 only, with Year 2 being conditional upon renewed funding from INFC for this specific project. The scope of work for Years 3 and 4 will greatly depend on the outcome of the work conducted in Years 1 and 2, and is therefore not yet finalized.