Prof. Dr. Helmut Wenzel

Managing Director of WENZEL Consulting Engineers GmbH 

Year of Birth:

Nationality: 

German, English 

EDUCATION

1982
 

1978
 

1972

CAREER

since 2015
 

since 2009
 

1995-2015
 

since 1992
 

since 1988

since 1986
 

1977-1986

1972-77

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Prof. Wenzel has worked for large infrastructure projects in Europe and overseas for 40 years of his career. Driven by the demand for new technologies and practical applications in the industry he recognised the value of research and develop- ment and devoted his attention to national and international research projects. Since 1995 (in the BRITE-EURAM program of the European Commission) he took over the responsibility of coordinating large collaborative research projects (HARIS, CasCo, IMAC, OASYS, MOBILE, SAFEPIPES, IRIS, NERA) and organised dedicated international networks (SAMCO and I-SAMCO).

For the past 6 years the main focus of monitoring and assessment has shifted to offshore structures comprising the wind and oil&gas industries. A major number of contracts have been successfully concluded with large ongoing activities in this sector. This work has led to the invitation to take a leading role in standardisation of offshore monitoring assessment, period- ic maintenance and lifecycle considerations.

The major results from recent research projects have found their place in the international standardisation. The developed mathematical formulation of ageing is included in the new EUROCODE on the Risk-based Inspection Framework and the monitoring and assessment approach is documented in the VDI Richtlinie 4551 on Monitoring and Assessment of Offshore Wind Structures. 

Focuses of Expertise and Activities: 

Structural dynamics, building diagnostics (monitoring & inspections), Life Cycle Engineering (LCA & LCC), maintenance design and management of infrastruc- ture (predominantly in the fields bridge and offshore construction)

Major Research Projects:

2008 – 2012: IRIS

 (FP7 Contract CP-IP 213968-2): Integrated European Industrial Risk Reduction System).

IRIS has developed and interactive decision support system to increase industrial safety. Lifecycle assessment and maintenance management technologies are made available to avid range of industries. It has been ranked among the success stories in FP7 by the European Commission in 2012.

Main Results: An innovative integrated risk paradigm for risk management in industry including the related damage detection and life cycle assessment routines.

2010 – 2013 SYNER-G

(FP7 Grant agreement no.: 244061): Systemic Seismic Vulnerability and Risk Analysis for Buildings, Lifeline Networks and Infrastructures Safety Gain).

Syner-G is a European Collaborative Research Project focussing on systemic seismic vulnerability and risk analysis of buildings lifelines and infrastructures. The systemic vulnerability and the associated increased impact have not been considered so far in a rigorous and unified way for all kinds of systems.

Main Results: The well-recognised software package EQvis has been developed based on a methodology to take systemic vulnerability into account.

2006 – 2008 SAFEPIPES

(FP6 Contract no.: 003766): Safety Assessment and Lifetime Management of Industrial Piping Systems).

Pipes are the backbone of modern chemical and energy industry. Many pipes are reaching end of life and are posing threats to safety. Methodologies and technologies for assessment of pipelines under various operating conditions have been developed. Onsite tests have been performed in the chemical and the energy industry.

Main Result: A structural health monitoring methodology for the lifetime extension of pipes

2001 – 2004 IMAC

(FP5 Contract G1RD-CT-2000-00460): Integrated Monitoring and Assessment of Cables).

The integrated management and assessment of cables has been established on the demand of the construction industry that has built a large number of cable stayed bridges. A new technology for monitoring and assessment has been developed including the necessary hardware and software tools. A full scale test has been performed at the joint research centre of the European Commission in Ispra.

Main Result: A comprehensive cable, assessment and analysis tool box.

2000 – 2007 SAMCO

(FP5 G1RT-CT-2001-05040): Structural Assessment, Monitoring and Control).
Structural assessment monitoring and control has been a quickly developing subject in the construction industry. This network has compiled a comprehensive list of stakeholders, collected a wide number of reference projects and benchmarks and has brought the community together in a number of Summer Academies. The developed recommendations are still used in the international monitoring business. Valuable reference data are still distributed within the scientific community.

BRIMOS (BRIdge MOnitoring System)

The dynamic signature of a structure allows assessing its integrity. Based on this theory a comprehensive bridge monitoring system has been developed which ranks among the world leading technologies. Application on world wide scale is controlled by an interactive web-interface.

Main Results: A world leading brand in structural health monitoring and asset management.

CONSULTING PROJECTS

2013

since 2010
 

since 2009

since 2003

STANDARDS, GUIDELINES, COMMITTEES

VDI

Committees (Working Group)
Richtlinie 4150; Strukturüberwachung und Beurteilung von Windenergieanlagen und Plattformen

Field of activities
Development of the guideline jointly with Prof. Rücker (BAM), major contributions to concept and approach

Österreichische Forschungsgesellschaft Straße Schiene Verkehr
(Austrian National Committee on roads, railways and traffic)

Committees (Working Group)

Working group bridge construction (Br) / committee “Monitoring, supervision and assessment of bridges and other civil engineering structures”

Field of activities

Cooperation in preparation of the RVS leaflet 13.03.01 ”Monitoring von
Brücken und anderen Ingenieurbauwerken“ (Monitoring of bridges and other civil engineering structures)

CEN - European Committee for Standardization

Committees (Working Group)

“Ageing behaviour of Structural Components with regard to Integrated Lifetime Assessment and subsequent Asset Management of Constructed
Facilities”

Field of activities

Elaboration of proposal of the standardization text (in the scope of CWA 63)

Memberships

IALCEE – International Association for Life – Cycle Civil Engineering

ISHMII – International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure

SAMCO – European Association on Structural Assessment, Monitoring and Control  

Text Books and Publications:

2013

Industrial Safety and Life Cycle Engineering
VCE Vienna Consulting Engineers ZT GmbH, Vienna, Austria ISBN 9783200031791

2012

Strategic Research Agenda on Earthquake Risk
Issued by the NERA Project in collaboration with the EAE

2009

Health Monitoring of Bridges
J. Wiley and Sons Ltd.,  Chichester – England ISBN 9780470031735

2006

Strategic Research Agenda on Earthquake Engineering
Issued by EAEE (European Associations of Earthquake Engineering)

2005

Ambient Vibration Monitoring
 J. Wiley and Sons Ltd.,  Chichester – England ISBN 0470024305

2003

Strategic Research Agenda on Structural Health Monitoring
Issued by the SAMCO Project

1999

Cable Stayed Bridges
Northern Gate Book Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan, ROC ISBN 957-99070-4-8

Since 1981

Over 30 Key Note Contributions  (Papers and Oral Presentations) Main areas: Safety Technologies, Monitoring, Bridge Construction, Seismic Safety Program Committee for IABSE, IABMAS, IWSHM, ISHMII, EAEE

Since 1978

Over 300 Papers – (Safety, Engineering and Natural Hazards) Main areas: Safety Technologies, Monitoring, Bridge Construction, Seismic Safety

Typical Representation of the Fields of Research under Way

Main lines of research are Industrial Safety, Risk Identification and Management, Health Monitoring of Structures