Advanced corrosion monitoring for marine and civil infrastructure - bringing new technology closer to market

This 'follow-on' project builds upon the success of recent work undertaken by the applicants, particularly under the first round of the EPSRC Challenging Engineering Programme and, critically, takes that research forward towards industrial application and exploitation. The work continues the strong interdisciplinary partnership between Electrical Engineering at City University London (CUL) and Civil Engineering at Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), working together with their respective Technology Transfer Officers (TTOs) to take full advantage of the excellent relationship forged, including with the spin-out company, Sengenia, and the other industrial partners, Network Rail, Roads Services of Northern Ireland, Amey Plc and Collins Engineering. There is a clear focus of the proposal - to make the commercial potential of the research more evident, both to the market and to set a platform for generating sustainable interest from future funding organizations to create the right conditions for commercial exploitation of the technology. The key technical strength, underpinning the commercial potential and providing the capability, is the successful development (through the support from EPSRC EP/D030269/1, EP/D030196/1, EP/D009162/1, EP/F012829/1) of novel corrosion sensor systems for monitoring early signatures of concrete corrosion. This has enabled the creation of, for the first time to the knowledge of applicants, new, tailored, durable in-situ pH sensors which have a demonstrable capability to measure pH values higher than 12 and chloride sensors which have not just been able to measure free chloride concentrations (to a level as low as 20mM) but also been sustainable in the high alkaline environment experienced.The research undertaken to date has shown real promise to bridge currently identified market gaps by providing better monitoring solutions for both marine and civil infrastructures and thus to overcome current commercial limitations in the UK and beyond, especially in terms of the sensing range, sensitivity and durability. Several important technical and commercial challenges have been identified which are well attuned to the Follow-on funding agenda and the success of this proposal promises industry access to better data to allow more timely maintenance and cost saving - creating a successful commercial proposition, to the benefit of UK and global industry. It should be stressed that this application to the Follow-on Fund is targeted not simply at another year's work on sensors per se but is designed to make the ideas generated and the work done better suited to rapid commercial exploitation, to the benefit both of industry and academia. The approach taken is built on the support of and advice from both an SME and end users, to give a better understanding of decay and corrosion processes in the built environment.

There will be a critical impact on the major beneficiaries of the research through the outcomes, as indicated below 1) The wider public in general. Impact will come from the success of the research through the potential for novel approaches for the early warning of marine and civil infrastructural failure. A significant impact would be avoiding the massive disruption to the public and the significant financial losses caused by collapsed infrastructure, in addition to enhancing public safety and confidence in infrastructure 2) The public sector and stakeholders. The success of this commercial feasibility study which has been based strongly on technical merit will not just provide the public sector and stakeholders with valuable early warning in relation to structural corrosion but also offer a significant cost savings in relation to the structural maintenance, repair and replacement of existing deteriorated infrastructure through the use of novel technologies and best practices. 3) The commercial private sector. Impact will be seen in UK industry being able to benefit from direct access to research outcomes of the feasibility studies carried out through the partnership developed both during the project period and subsequently. This will be followed up by subsequent commercial exploitation through appropriate license arrangements with patent owners 4) The UK Institutions involved. They will benefit both from the enhancement of their respective current research portfolios and potential joint ownership of the Intellectual Properties arising from the patent protection for the new technologies. This would allow for further financial benefits to both Universities should the commercial exploitation be successful 5) The investigators. An important impact on them will be from the experience gained in the coordination and management of this type of industrially-driven multidisciplinary research by working closely with industrial partners and Universities TTOs 6) The early career PDRAs and PhD students involved. Potentially the impact on them can be huge - they will gain significant experience by working with colleagues in different Universities and across different sectors, which could create a unique platform for them to develop new directions for their future careers