Action TU1208

Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar

COST Success Story

Training School on Ground Penetrating Radar for road- pavement assessment and detection of buried utilities. London, United Kingdom, October 12-14, 2015

The COST Action TU1208 is organising a Training School on Ground Penetrating Radar for road-pavement assessment and detection of buried utilities. This course is conceived for early-career investigators and PhD students and will be held on October 12-14, 2015, in London, United Kingdom. The lectures will be very kindly hosted by

The University of West London. Practical sessions are going to be delivered by Utsi Electronics Ltd, a well-known manufacturer of GPR equipment based in the UK.

The Coordinators of the Training School are Prof Amir Morteza Alani (The University of West London, United Kingdom, TU1208 MC Member), Prof Andrea Benedetto ("Roma Tre" University, Italy, TU1208 Editiorial Coordinator) and Dr Lara Pajewski ("Roma Tre" University, Italy, Chair of COST Action TU1208). The Trainers are Prof Amir Morteza Alani, Prof Andrea Benedetto, Dr Erica Carrick Utsi, Dr Lara Pajewski, Dr Fabio Tosti, Dr Vincent Utsi (Utsi Electronics Ltd, United Kingdom) and the Utsi team.

School Venue

Please download this map, indicating the site where the Training School is going to be held. It is the “Brentford Site,” which has been marked as “6” on the map. The postal address of the building where our training is going to be held is:

The University of West London

Brentford Site, Paragon Building

Boston Manor Road, Brentford

Middlesex (London), TW8 9GA, UK.

Class Scheduling

Monday, 12 October 2015

Time	Trainer	Activity
08:00 - 09:00		Registration
09:00 - 09:45	Local Authorities. All Trainers.	Welcome by Authorities. Introduction to the School. Short presentation of Trainees and Trainers.
09:45 - 10:30	L. Pajewski	On COST and the Action TU1208 "Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar."
10:30 - 11:00		Tea & Coffee Break
11:00 - 13:00	A. Benedetto	- GPR basic principles. Electromagnetic properties of media. GPR systems and surveys. - Overview on pavement types. - Flexible-pavement assessment with GPR: how to estimate the thickness of road layers; detection of damages.
13:00 - 14:00		Lunch
14:00 - 18:00	V. Utsi & Utsi team	Practical Training 1: - Familiarising with GPR equipment. - Use of GPR to map the asphalt thickness on paved roadways. and to assess the road condition. - Processing and interpretation of GPR data.
20:00		Common dinner

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Time	Trainer	Activity
08:30 - 09:00	All Trainers	A review of the previous afternoon’s practical experience and discussion about the learned skills.
09:00 - 10:30	F. Tosti	- Flexible-pavement assessment with GPR: estimation of water content. - GPR detection of buried utilities.
10:30 - 11:00		Tea & Coffee Break
11:00 - 13:00	E. Carrick Utsi	GPR best practice.
13:00 - 14:00		Lunch
14:00 - 18:00	V. Utsi & Utsi team	Practical Training 2: - Locating subsurface utilities. Noting the difference between metal and dielectric targets. Detecting voids. - Processing and interpretation of GPR data.
20:00		Common dinner

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Time	Teacher	Activity
08:30 - 09:00	All Trainers	A review of the previous afternoon’s practical experience and discussion about the learned skills.
09:00 - 10:30	L. Pajewski	Electromagnetic modelling of roads and subsurface utilities, by using GprMax and E2GPR.
10:30 - 11:00		Tea & Coffee Break
11:00 - 13:00	A. Alani	- Use of GPR for the assessment of bride structures. - Use of GPR for the assessment of tunnels.
13:00 - 14:00		Lunch
14:00 - 15:00	All Trainers	- Summary and final discussion about the learned skills. - Discussion about difficulties and challenges encountered by Trainees during their professional activity and in relation to their research programmes.
15:00 - 16:30		Tea & Coffee Break, with poster session.*

* Trainees are strongly encouraged to prepare a poster, to present and discuss their activities on GPR. Vertical A0 size will be fine.

COST Action TU1208 wishes to express gratitude to COST Association for funding the Action TU1208 and this Training School. We wish to thank The University of West London for hosting the event and providing facilities.

Training School Grants

for PhD Students & Early-Career Investigators

COST Action TU1208 is proud to offer free courses: this school does not have a registration fee and students from all Countries are very welcome to attend it for free. To register, please send an email to school@gpradar.eu. Registrations are closed.

COST Action TU1208 offered 15 grants of 600,00 EUR to Trainees from COST Countries and approved institutions in Near-Neighbour Countries (NNC); for the list of COST Countries and NNC, please visit www.cost.eu. Trainees coming from London could not apply for a grant. The deadline for submitting grant applications was September 28, 2015 (17:00 CET). Applications submitted after the deadline were discarded.

The selection of Granted applications was based on COST key principles of excellence and inclusiveness. COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon2020 and its policy contributes to the "Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation" Horizon 2020 goal. To identify excellent applicants, we asked applicants to submit a curriculum vitae, a motivation letter and a support letter. At the same time, we aimed at achieving inclusiveness. This objective is developed by COST around three main elements: support to early-career investigators, fostering of gender balance and support to researchers coming from less-research intensive COST Member Countries.

List of Granted Trainees

Granted Trainees have been selected according to COST key principles of excellence and inclusiveness. Priority was given to ECIs (i.e, Trainees having the PhD since no more than 8 years), Trainees coming from less research-intensive Countries (for the list of inclusiveness Countries, please see www.cost.eu) and gender balance.

During the school, Granted Trainees will be sorted in groups. Each group will have to deliver a joint report. Detailled instructions for the preparation of the report and a template will be provided by the School Coordinators. Grants will be transferred after the approval of the submitted report.

Vania Marecos

(Portugal, TU1208 Member)

Marco Salucci

(France, TU1208 Member, ECI)

Maurizio Ercoli

(Italy, TU1208 Member, ECI)

Audrey Van der Wielen (Belgium, ECI)

Enzo Battaglia (Italy, ECI)
Óscar Pueyo Anchuela

(Spain, ECI)

Ana Ghituica (Romania)
Sabina Gheorghe (Romania)
Justyna Wieczorek (Poland)

Carla Barbara (Spain)
Michał Dąbrowski (Poland)

Ion Popa (Romania) - Declined, the Grant was given to Danuta Zadrozna (Poland)

Aksel Seitllari (Turkey)

Margarita Chizh (Russia)
Abdellatif Younis (Egypt) - Declined, the Grant was given to Lorenza Tenuti (Italy)

List of Trainees

registered to the Training School

(in alphabetical order)

Aziz Latifah Abdul (UK)
Barbara Carla (Spain)
Battaglia Enzo (Italy)
Bianchini Ciampoli Luca (Italy)
Chizh Margarita (Russia)
Collis Chris (UK)
Dabrowski Michal (Poland)
De Freitas Jessica (UK)
Dixon Andrew (UK)
Ercoli Maurizio (Italy)
Gerea Alexandra (UK)
Gheorghe Sabina Elena (Romania)
Ghituica Ana-Maria (Romania)
Gislimberti Lorenzo (Italy)
Hiekkalahti Anssi (Finland)
Konstantinos Poutos (UK)
Lentini Livia (Italy)
Liuzzo Scorpo Alberto (UK)
Marecos Vania (Portugal)
Mihai Andrei (UK)
Munisami Kevin (UK)
Pueyo Anchuela Oscar (Spain)
Robinson Stuart (UK)
Rubio Martinez Enrique J (Spain)
Salucci Marco (France)
Seitllari Aksel (Turkey)
Soppelsa Maria (Italy)
Staveley David (UK)
Stylianides Theo (UK)
Sule Dauda Suki (UK)
Tenuti Lorenza (IT)
Twist Stephen (UK)
Van Der Wielen Audrey (Belgium)
Wieczorek Justyna (Poland)
Wysocki Jan (Poland)
Zadrozna Danuta (Poland)

For information concerning the COST Action TU1208, please take contact with the Chair of the Action, Dr. Lara Pajewski - This website is supported by COST, European COoperation in Science and Technology - COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme Horizon2020