PROJECT OF THE MONTH DECEMBER 2025 | With the research project ZuKunFT VCE paves the way for a new era of structural monitoring. The focus is on DFOS (Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing) systems – a technology that precisely and completely records expansion and crack formation along optical fibres.
Whereas DFOS already offers big potential for the application in bridges, tunnels or geotechnical structures, there are still open questions on the long-term stability and robustness of measurements.
This is the point where the project ZuKunFT comes in: An interdisciplinary team, including VCE, headed by TU Graz - Laboratory for Structural Engineering (LKI), systematically checks all time-, temperature- and humidity-dependent influence factors which can change the sensor signal. The target is to scientifically quantify these effects and to transfer them into reliable theoretical models. These models shall be integrated into engineering software in the future – a decisive step to incorporate DFOS data directly in the assessment of the load-bearing capacity and safety as well as in monitoring concepts.
“With the research project ZuKunFT we establish the basis that DFOS-monitoring is not only precise but also provides long-term resilient results. Thus, we consolidate the safety and efficiency in the whole life cycle of infrastructures”, declared VCE’s authorized representative Peter Furtner.
VCE clearly shows how innovation and engineering can interact to realize more resilient and smart structures. ZuKunFT is an example for the claim of the company to integrate research in practical solutions for the construction and infrastructure sector.
PROJECT
Research project ZuKunFT – from fibre-optic monitoring to precise condition assessment of civil engineering structures
CLIENT
Austrian Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure by FFG (the Austrian Research Promotion Agency)
COOPERATION PARTNERS
TU Graz – Laboratory for Structural Engineering (LKI), ACI Monitoring GmbH, Geoconsult ZT GmbH, NBG Tube GmbH, TU Graz Institute of Engineering Geodesy and Measurement Systems