Research

The project will establish an Integrated Research Centre (IREC) for advanced numerical and analytical analysis of reliability, performance, and service life of existing and new civil engineering structures such as bridges, tunnels, protective barriers, etc. The IREC will aim to integrate the knowledge and tools of the cross-border partners from BOKU-IKI and BUT-STM and offer a unified and efficient access and service to the target groups on both sides of the border. This synergy will enable easy cross-border transfer of parts of solutions to complex problems. Within the framework of its activities, the Centre will offer both knowledge transfer in the form of seminars and publications and direct application and consultancy activities towards partners from engineering offices and infrastructure operators and owners. The common services, methods and tools will be intensified and adapted to the current needs of the target groups and thus prepared for an optimized operation of the research centre after the end of the project. The research centre will be autonomous after the end of the project, self-financed by the funds raised by providing services to the technical offices and the professional community. Without the joint involvement of the two cross-border partners, the required comprehensiveness and availability of the services offered could not be achieved, and thus the necessary change in the approach of the professional community to the application of modern advanced numerical methods to improve and streamline the design and assessment of building structures and to ensure sustainable and reliable transport infrastructure. For the duration of the project, the research centre will consist exclusively of two founding project partners. Future expansion of the research centre with additional partners from research institutions or industry is not excluded, in line with the needs of future developments in the field and the needs of the programme regions.

As climate disruptions become more frequent and intense, the resilience of Europe's infrastructure is crucial as it supports economic flows, human well-being, and social stability throughout the continent. However, this challenge provides a historic opportunity to revolutionise infrastructure by integrating it with nature. Hence, NATURE-DEMO creates, validates, and spreads nature-based solutions (NbS) for protecting infrastructure against climate threats. It covers critical sectors (e.g. transport and energy) and engages an alliance of infrastructure owners, scientists from industry and academia, and public authorities. NATURE-DEMO aims to shift decision management from reactive measures to proactively designing holistic systems that are resilient by design through four actions: Create, Validate, Scale, and Sustain. NATURE-DEMO will Create an advanced digital decision support platform that will integrate climate projections, asset exposure, NbS catalogue portfolios, and advanced simulations to optimise the efficiency of selected NbS implementations to enhance resilience and deliver co-benefits. NATURE-DEMO will Validate its methodology with real-world demonstrations of optimised NbS across 5 sites in the Alpine Biogeographic region. Successful NbS will then be Scaled as replicators in +4 other sites in the Alpine and other Biogeographic regions. NATURE-DEMO willSustain its solutions beyond its timeframe by focusing on exploitation pathways that include tailored guidelines that disseminate NbS knowledge across infrastructure

In this project, procedures for the development of digital twins for the implementation of efficient sustainability analyses will be developed and tested, taking into account the national requirements of the DACH countries. A specific implementation of digital twins and selected sustainability-related indicators for the evaluation and optimisation of the operation and dismantling of civil engineering structures with regard to a cycle-oriented resource management will be carried out. The focus is on decision support for the operators of engineering structures with regard to planning, construction, operation and dismantling. On the basis of open source developments, an implementation guide is also being created to enable the transfer and further development of the results. For the demonstration, digital twins of up to three engineering structures will be created, enriched with data and used for the calculation of relevant indicators for sustainability analysis. In addition, advice will be given on which data should be collected in the future and integrated into sustainability analyses so that data gaps can be closed and transparent decisions can be made.