“I was born in the late 80s of the 20th century. At that time, Vietnam's transport infrastructure was extremely backward. Traveling between places took a large amount of time and faced huge challenges. Hence, my dream was to devote my efforts to the build of a modern transport infrastructure that serves people's lives and fosters economic development”, Hoa tells.

"Structural infrastructures are inevitably exposed to numerous destructive effects (e.g., earthquakes, storms, extreme weather, overloads, accidental loads, etc.), all of which can significantly reduce operational efficiency and lifespan," Hoa continued.

"Therefore, in recent decades, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems of building infrastructures have been widely deployed and have attracted much attention from researchers around the world. The task of the SHM system is to detect damage as early as possible based on the data obtained. This plays a crucial role in assessing the structural behavior as accurately as possible in preparation for a possible repair," explains Hoa.

"The goal of my dissertation is to address the shortcomings of traditional optimization algorithms and machine learning, and also to develop strong tools to increase the accuracy and effectiveness of SHM," Hoa concludes.

Read a more detailed summary or the entire PhD

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PhD Title: Structural Health Monitoring for Bridges Using Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithms Combined with Artificial Neural Network

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Contact: Ngoc Hoa Tran, Magd Abdel Wahab

“After graduating from high school, I decided to choose construction engineering as a major at the University of Transport and Communications (UTC). After five years of study, with my strongest determination, I achieved the title of valedictorian (ranked 1/677)”

“During my studies, I attend and won many prestigious awards and scholarships from UTC. With outstanding achievements, I was recruited to be a lecturer at UTC. After that, I did my master thesis research at UTC, and with hard work, I got the title of valedictorian (ranked 1/79)”

“After a certain time lecturing and doing scientific research, I become fully aware that to gain access to the world's cutting-edge scientific achievements, it is extremely necessary to seek positions in a professional research environment”

“Hence, I decided to apply for BOF scholarship of Ghent University (Ugent). With an excellent proposal and luck, I was chosen for BOF and started my Ph.D. at Ugent. During my four research years at Ugent, with the hard work, and the assistance of my promoters and colleagues, I have published 15 A1 papers in which I am the first author of 7 ones (most of them belong to the Q1 ranking), and other scientific papers.”

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gradually taking over all areas of life. Following this dominanttrend, I desire to exploit the enormous potential of AI for SHM. Therefore, my thesis topic is ‘Structural Health Monitoring for Bridges using Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithms Combined with Artificial Neural Network’ “

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Editor: Jeroen Ongenae - Illustrator: Roger Van Hecke