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Grant support

This paper is based on the ongoing research of the lead author's Ph.D. thesis, under preparation at the International Doctorate School of UNED (EIDUNED) ; the authors, therefore, wish to express their gratitude for that institution's support. This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project grant TED2021-130497A-I00, and co-financed by the H2020-NMBP-TO-IND program through the UE-H2020 with application code: H2020-NMBP-TO-IND 2020-958171 (IM-SAFE)

Analysis of institutional authors

Barros, BraisAuthor
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Article

A novel fully removable walkway system with non-invasive anchors for structural health inspection and maintenance of historic steel structures

Publicated to:Structures. 53 1435-1449 - 2023-05-13 53(), DOI: 10.1016/j.istruc.2023.05.019

Authors: Cabaleiro, Manuel; Conde, Borja; Gonzalez-Gaya, Cristina; Barros, Brais

Affiliations

Univ Nacl Educ Distancia UNED, Dept Construct & Mfg Engn, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Vigo, Sch Ind Engn, Dept Mat Engn Appl Mech & Construct, Vigo, Spain - Author

Abstract

Historic steel structures are generally heritage constructions that must be preserved, where invasive operations such as welding or drilling cannot be performed. Any auxiliary structures installed on these constructions must be easily removable. In addition, historic steel structures such as riveted bridges are difficult to access, making it very difficult to take measurements using contact techniques or to perform structural health inspections. One of the most common needs is the installation of walkways for inspection and especially for maintenance and repair purposes. In this sense, clamp-based connections are a technique for fabricating dismountable systems that allow anchoring to existing structures without performing invasive operations such as welding or drilling. This study proposes, develops, simulates, and tests a novel non-invasive detachable anchorage system for the assembly of temporary walkways for inspecting and maintaining historic steel structures without additional scaffolding. In addition, a methodology is proposed for the easy and correct installation of the proposed system by combining it with LiDAR techniques. The developed system has been assembled and tested in laboratory tests and two real case studies.

Keywords
BeaHistoric steel bridgesHistoric steel constructionsInspectionLaser scanninMaintenance &ampMasonryModelNon-invasive connectionsSteel trusses

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Structures due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 35/182, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Civil.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.03, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions May 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-12, the following number of citations:

  • Scopus: 3
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-12:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 12 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    Leadership analysis of institutional authors

    There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (Barros González, Brais).