FRP composites are finding increasing use in the civilian applications such as highways, bridges, pipes etc. This analysis focuses on the FRP piping systems used in the Petrochemical industries under extreme conditions. Due to the high operational and maintenance costs involved with pipes made from traditional materials, there is a need to develop a smart inspection system that replaces or eliminates the traditional inspection and maintenance techniques, providing continuous and reliable monitoring of the structure. Smart FRP pipes have an embedded smart sensor system incorporated in them, providing continuous and reliable monitoring of the pipe structure. This helps in preventing catastrophic failure of pipes thereby reducing the costs involved with the pipe failure. Smart FRP systems have a very high initial investment cost, and therefore a cost comparison model is needed in order to justify their use against traditionally used materials. A Life Cycle Cost (LCC) comparison model has been developed in this paper, which shows that despite high initial investment costs, large savings could be made in the operational and maintenance costs with the use of Smart FRP pipes. This cost model Calculates the life cycle costs of Steel, FRP and Smart FRP pipes, and determines the alternative with the lowest life cycle cost. To deal with an uncertainty associated with the cost factors, used in calculating the LCC of the three alternatives, an uncertainty analysis has been performed. An computer spreadsheet has been programmed in order to perform the LCC and Uncertainty Analysis. This analysis has laid down the basic foundations for a larger cost model, wherein; several other alternatives materials and factors could be included. This would further help in widening the scope of use of Smart Structures in various industries. Certain aspects of the data used in this analysis may be disputable, however for the purpose of modeling and procedural demonstration, the gathered and available information was used to perform our analysis. Therefore, use of this data outside of the scope and context of this report is not warranted.

A two-part electronic system was designed to monitor and maintain the alignment of a bridge which is to be constructed in clay terrain. Previous bridges constructed along this Motorway in Southern Italy were closed for beam misalignment resulting from pillar displacement. The current two-part system was developed to provide a means to continuously monitor the position of the pillars and restore deck-pillar realignment when pillar displacement is detected. The monitoring system measures relative pillar position using a new multiple laser system. The repositioning system is composed of a number of computer controlled mechanical actuators bearing six degrees of freedom. A hydraulic piston coupled to a ring nut gear will be used for lifting, and will hence be intrinsically safe, since this configuration will not allow retrograde motion in case of power failure. Each actuator will allow motion along three perpendicular directions and spherical rotation about a point, to permit rotations of the bridge beams with respect to the pillars during deck-pillar realignment.

The paper presents the most recent developments on electronic bridge control applied to a bridge located along a southern Italian Motorway in an area where a landslip is in slow yet continuous motion. A previous bridge was closed for beam misalignment caused by the landslip action. A new bridge was recently designed with much sturdier foundations, but even during the initial construction phases it was evident that a static solution was undesirable, if not impossible. Jet, based on the observations of the last twenty years, the foreseen movements are relatively small, 20 cm being the maximum horizontal measured displacement in that period. A further version of the bridge has thus been proposed, characterised by lighter and longer decks, in order to negotiate the section with fewer elements. Moreover, the monitoring and repositioning systems have been thoroughly redesigned, to allow an almost continuous adjustment of the bridge decks, severely limiting the realignment times, in order to reduce traffic interruptions. A reduced number of interferometric lasers have been used, using rotating drums with mirrors individually preset to sweep the entire measuring field. The lifters, in their present version, should substitute the props, being used as active connections between pillars and decks, thus being able to support all traffic induced dynamic stresses in the vertical direction. The lifters have also been made sturdier eliminating all ball bearings in favour of teflon sheets. In addition, computer controlled lateral supports have been added to the system, allowing to move the deck horizontally while transmitting traffic or hearth-quake shocks to the pillars. On the top of each lifter an elastic interface bearing strain gauges will enable the measurement of tangential stresses as well as uneven distribution of the load, providing further information on the need of beams realignment.