SPP 2388: Hundred plus – Coordination

Table of contents

1. 1. 1. Project data
      2. Short description​
      3. Funding period 1
         1. Report from year book 2024/25
         2. Report from year book 2023
         3. Report from year book 2022
         4. Report from year book 2021

Project data

Titel | Title Koordination des SPP 2388: Hundert plus – Verlängerung der Lebensdauer komplexer Baustrukturen durch intelligente Digitalisierung | Coordination of SPP 2388: Hundred plus – Extending the service life of complex structures through intelligent digitalisation Förderer | Funding Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) / SPP 2388 Zeitraum | Period 08/2022 – 02/2026 (Phase | period 1) 03/2026 – 02/2029 (Phase | period 2) Koordinator des SPP 100+ | Coordinator of SPP 100+ Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Marx Team | Team Dr.-Ing. Chongjie Kang, Samar Aqlan, M.Sc. Homepage des SPP 2388 | Homepage of SPP 2388

Short description​

The overarching goal of SPP 2388 "Hundred Plus" (short: SPP 100+) is a conceptual and fundamental realignment of the current maintenance strategy for infrastructure structures. The projects of SPP 100+ address these challenges within three interdisciplinary research areas: digital models, digital integration, and condition indicators.

The methods developed within SPP 100+ are validated using the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms. In Phase 1 (2022 – 2026), the coordination project established the bridge as a demonstrator by developing as-designed and as-built models, a structural health monitoring (SHM) system, and a digital twin for a pilot area of the bridge. Phase 2 (2026 – 2029) will further deepen the research on the Nibelungen Bridge. The focus will be on integrating various SHM systems from the SPP, as well as further developing the existing data platform and SHM system. Alongside the research on the Nibelungen Bridge, the coordination project organizes workshops to provide advanced training for SPP doctoral researchers and special sessions at international conferences to disseminate SPP research results.

Funding period 1

Report from year book 2024/25

Lifespan 100+ for bridges

The overarching goal of the Priority Programme 2388 “Hundred Plus” (SPP 100+) is a conceptual and fundamental realignment of the current maintenance strategy for bridge structures. In August 2025, the second funding phase of the Priority Programme began. During that period, condition indicators and predictive models for representative damage mechanisms of steel, concrete, and composite bridges will be developed. In addition, methods for deriving recommendations for action will be researched, aiming at predictive and prescriptive maintenance of structures.

The developed methods are intended to be validated on real structures. For this purpose, the coordination project provides two bridges: the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms, an existing structure with deficits in shear load capacity and corrosion of prestressing tendons, and the research bridge openLAB, where destructive tests can be conducted to validate sensor concepts and damage identification strategies.

During the first funding phase, intensive accompanying research was conducted within the coordination project to establish the Nibelungen Bridge as a demonstrator. For this purpose, 3D models of the bridge were created, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system was installed, and a digital twin was developed. In the second funding phase, the focus is on expanding the initial SHM system. For this purpose, methods for the fusion of SHM systems and for the quality assessment of fused monitoring data are being developed. Additionally, a strategy for intelligent knowledge management is being developed. This strategy will incorporate not only existing documents but also monitoring data. Using this holistic approach to knowledge management, researchers within SPP 100+ will be able to access and analyze the data from the Nibelungen Bridge with ease.

In October 2025, the official kick-off for the second phase of SPP 100+ took place, which also marked the final meeting of the first phase. Researchers presented their results from the first phase and introduced their projects for the second phase. The transfer of knowledge ensured a seamless transition between the phases.

Report from year book 2023

Lifespan 100+

We have made much progress in the Priority Program 2388 “Hundred Plus” (SPP 100+) since the kick-off meeting in September 2022. We successfully conducted events, initiated new ideas for networking, and enhanced our visibility in the research field. As part of the accompanying research, we completed the 3D measurement of the Nibelungen Bridge Worms in April. This included a comprehensive laser scanning, an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) flight over the river bridge, and underwater scanning of the pier. In May, we installed the initial structural health monitoring (SHM) system on the bridge, with all 30 sensors proving effective. By August, a web visualization of the SHM results was developed. The first version of the digital twin of the bridge was completed in November. Additionally, we established data exchange platforms to enhance data and knowledge exchange within our program.

In the scope of the coordination, we conducted the annual meeting with the support from Landesbetrieb Mobilität (LBM) Worms in the city hall in Worms in Novemer 2023. During this event, all projects presented their research results, fostering productive exchanges among participants. Additionally, attendees had the opportunity to witness the renowned historical Nibelungen Bridge firsthand. Two thematic workshops for the doctoral researchers were also organized. In April, the first workshop on the topic “Modeling” took place in Braunschweig, supported of the project led by Dr.-Ing. Julian Unglaub. In November, the second workshop focused on “Point clouds and artificial intelligence” and was conducted with the support of the project led by Prof. Jörg Blankenbach in Worms.

Additionally, we have initiated and organized two special sessions for the “11th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring” and the “7th International Conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment, and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures”, respectively, scheduled for 2024. Furthermore, our dedicated SPP 100+ website, https://www.spp100plus.de/, was completed and operational since May. This platform provides comprehensive information about our program, which can now accessed online.

Report from year book 2022

Coordination of SPP Hundred plus

The overarching goal of the DFG Priority Program (SPP) 2388 “Hundred plus – Extending the life of complex building constructions through intelligent digitalisation” (in short: 100+) is a conceptual and fundamental reorientation of the current maintenance strategy of infrastructure structures. In early 2021, the programme was established by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). The DFG published the tender for the individual projects of SPP 2388 on 18.06.2021. Proposals had to be submitted by 29.10.2021. After a careful review process, one coordination project and 19 scientific subprojects were approved in summer 2022.

On 13. and 14.09.2022, the kick-off meeting for the SPP 100+ took place at TU Dresden. Around 50 scientists from all 20 projects took part. On the first day, the 19 SPP projects were individually introduced by the contributors of each project with short presentations. In the evening, an evening event took place in the Otto Mohr Laboratory of the Institute of Concrete Structures. On 14.09., the validation structure, the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms, and the coordination project were presented. Afterwards, the individual projects were divided into five different clusters. The aim of this is to enable a better exchange of all sub-projects in smaller groups:

• Cluster A: geometric-semantic models,
• Cluster B: damage detection,
• Cluster C: monitoring and simulation,
• Cluster D: concepts for the digital twin,
• Cluster E: data-driven methods.

With the completion of the cluster formation resp. subdivision, it was possible to discuss further specific topics such as equal opportunities, cooperation, utilisation of results and the transfer into practice.

By the end of 2022, the 3D survey with laser scannings and UAV flights, which aims to obtain the geometrical shape of the validation structure Nibelungen Bridge in Worms, was completed. Besides, the structural health monitoring was tendered via the central procurement of the TU Dresden. In addition, a bilingual website for the Priority Program will be completed by March 2023.

Report from year book 2021

Tomorrow‘s bridge maintenance

The condition of a structure is characterised by an ever more rapid degradation as it ages. To prolong the usability of complex structures, much more information is needed at a much earlier stage than is usual today. To drastically reduce this deficit and move towards predictive maintenance, fundamental research is needed on the methods of collecting, linking and evaluating all data on geometry, material, stress and ageing. Digitisation, especially the concept of the digital twin, takes on a completely new significance in this context. It enables the combination and real-time evaluation of all data required for operation and maintenance. However, the construction industry is faced with special challenges in terms of content and methodology: buildings, especially in transport infrastructure, are always unique. They are characterised by enormous dimensions and have a considerably longer service life than other technical facilities. Their rate of change due to deterioration is very low and thus hardly measurable. The SPP “Hundred plus” addresses these challenges in three interdisciplinary research areas: digital models, digital linkage and status indicators.

• The “Digital Models” department develops methods for generating largely automated, georeferenced, object-oriented 3D models from heterogeneous as-built data of engineering structures, supported by digital construction recording procedures, which contain semantic information in addition to the geometry.
• The focus of the area “Digital Linkage” is how the time-variant condition information of the real object can be processed in real-time and linked to the digital twin.
• In order to automatically convert huge amounts of data of the most varied structure and origin into condition information that can be quickly and largely intuitively grasped by humans, the “Condition Indicators” department is developing scientific methods for their automated derivation from continuous measurement data and from classic maintenance and inspection data.

The developed methods for model generation, digital linkage and derivation of condition indicators are to be tested and validated on a demonstrator structure, the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms.