Motivation

The project addresses the security of energy infrastructure, focusing on several categories of civil infrastructure and energy networks, including (i) gas pipelines, (ii) high speed railway lines, (iii) bridges, (iv) electric power transmission towers, (v) wind turbines, and (vi) seabed cables. In this context, the project will bring together a multi-disciplinary group of international experts promoting scientific exchange in the area of structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil and energy infrastructure. Emphasis will be placed on numerical modeling and implementation for generating loading (input) and response (output) scenarios. Another area of focus will involve SHM strategies, including instrumentation, data collection, data transmission, data processing, and decision-making. Furthermore, the role of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) will be discussed as a tool for analyzing and interpreting SHM data. Finally, security issues in the transmission of data will be addressed.

Advanced research workshop

The advanced research workshop (ARW), to be held in December 2025 at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), constitutes the main funding framework of the project. The ARW participants have been selected with an aim to maximize the coverage of the aforementioned topics. The selection has also been based on previous and existing collaborations between the participating teams. Specifically, the participants are organized in four groups, specializing, respectively, on (i) structural mechanics and numerical modelling, (ii) experimental techniques and data collection, (iii) artificial intelligence and machine learning, and (iv) cybersecurity. A maximum attendance of 40 official participants is envisioned, including professors, lecturers and post-doctoral students, while the audience will also include graduate students. The participants will include members from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, which is the NATO-partner institution organizing the workshop, Hamburg University of Technology (Germany), University of Innsbruck (Austria), Kiel University (Germany), Aalto University (Finland), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria), University of Porto (Portugal), University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (Bulgaria), and Center for Research and Technology (Greece).